All The Small Things
by seirios aster
Summary: [AU, sequel to FAH] Sixteen years after the death of the last Sith Lord, trouble brews in the Republic yet again. Too bad the only ones that can save the galaxy are blissfully unaware. Does that mean Palpatine will finally win? Sure, & Wes will be civil.
1. Jedi Don't Sleep and Testing Of Wills

Hello! This is the sequel to my story, "Fixing A Hole." Basically, that means that this is an AU version of the galaxy if Anakin hadn't turned into Darth Vader. Anyway, I've thrown some interesting twists in, but the action isn't going to completely get going until the next chapter (hopefully). I hope you enjoy, and thank you very much for taking the time to read.

* * *

On Coruscant in the Jedi Temple, it was about twelve in the morning. It also happened to be a Friday and the thirteenth of the month (while that was normally good luck, this meant that the crazy girl from Dathomir next door was sharing her plots with one of her Dathomiran compatriots while they played a loud video game). The room was dark, partially owing to the fact that the room was painted black. There were two bunk beds in the room, but only three of them were occupied. The fourth bed, the bottom one on the left side, had all of the occupants' homework piled on it. Most of it was unfinished and due weeks before but belonged to the one sleeping on the bed above it. The occupant of the bed was a sixteen year old, brown haired, brown eyed human boy from Sulon who had the bad habit of snoring. Across the room was another brown haired boy, but he was a fifteen year old, green eyed Corellian who had a habit of reading into the small hours of the morning and leaving his light on after he had fallen asleep. Those two were the plagues of the third's sleep cycle.

The third could never find a way to fall asleep when there was a test the next day, seeing that the other two were in their own nervous and panicking modes. The worst part was that he always (well, almost always) turned his homework in on time. The only reason he got bad scores on any of the tests was because of the other two. Finally giving up, the last of the group got up and turned the light off. Master Kenobi had been complaining about how many light bulbs they had been running though, anyway. With one problem down, the only blond in the room sleepily debated with himself about whether to throw Kyle's shoe at him. Best case scenario, Kyle stopped snoring. Worst case scenario, Kyle stopped snoring and told Master Skywalker, Master Kenobi or (Force forbid!) Master Yoda in the morning. If Master Skywalker was told, there was no doubt that he would probably laugh at Kyle then rush off to tell all of the other Masters about how Kyle had gotten a shoe thrown at him. If Master Kenobi was told, the blond knew he'd be in a little more trouble, but Master Skywalker would find out about it and still have a good laugh. If Master Yoda found out... Well, the blond didn't want to think about that. Regardless, Kyle would be unlikely to tell the old green one, seeing as he hadn't done his homework since Finals the year before.

Before the blond could decide, his friend Corran picked up the shoe with the Force and threw it at the snoring one. Apparently Corran had decided that the benefits outweighed the consequences. "Kyle, shut up. While Coruscant is the planet that never sleeps, some of us would like to."

"For Force's sake, Corran! Did you have to throw your shoe at me! It smells disgusting!" Kyle exclaimed, now completely awake because of the stench the shoe was giving off. He picked it up with two fingers and threw it off the bed.

"It was your shoe..." the blond commented, trying to go to sleep.

"You're still awake?" the other two asked in unison.

"The light and the snoring kept me up..."

"Sorry," Kyle apologized, not really sounding like he actually was. He glared at Corran in the dark. "Did you really have to throw a shoe at me?"

"His idea," Corran replied, pointing down. "He just didn't want you to go and tell the old and wizened green gnome."

Kyle gasped. "I'm shocked to think that any roommate of mine would think that I would actually a) tell on them and b) tell Yoda of all people! Are you feeling all right?"

"No," the tired blond growled. "I'm not, and if you don't shut up, I'll make you."

"Ooo. Scary. Will you then proceed to try and take over the galaxy?" Kyle asked sarcastically.

"No. I'll stop with killing you. Then I'll go tell Master Skywalker it was an accident, apologize profusely, and sleep for a week."

Corran shrugged. "Kyle, you have to admit, Luke has a pretty good plan."

"What do you mean? He can't even get himself out of kitchen duty!" Kyle retorted.

"If I fail the test tomorrow---" Luke started.

"Old Kenobi will tell you it's your own fault," Kyle mentioned, cutting Luke off. "Remember, he's a higher rank than Skywalker, and you won't be allowed to retake it. Besides, you studied a ton earlier... Speaking of which---"

"No, I'm not going to stand any cheating whatsoever," Corran cut in. "Even if it is you, Kyle, cheating is still wrong, and I'm not standing for it. I worked really hard for this stupid test tomorrow, so shut up and go back to sleep, or I'll murder you before Luke gets a chance."

"You will go to sleep now," Luke muttered, hoping that maybe the other two would listen to the Jedi Mind Trick. Luckily, it partially worked, and Kyle was out like a light. It had probably only worked since all of them were only half awake, anyway.

"Took you long enough," Corran commented before going back to sleep himself.

Luke ignored his friend and tried to get to sleep. The Dathomirans were still discussing their plots loudly, but they suddenly became quiet. In minute, Luke was asleep.

* * *

Mara sighed. Why was Teneniel so insistent on staying up so late on Thursday the twelfth into the thirteenth, Mara was sure she would never understand. It probably had to do with the old superstition concerning whenever the thirteenth fell on a Friday. "So you swear you'll stay quiet for the rest of the night?" 

Teneniel rolled her eyes. "Of course! Geez, I mean, if you'd said that we were bothering you, we would have stopped!"

"You were tormenting the guys next door again, weren't you?" Mara asked. The two witches from Dathomir always enjoyed bothering the Corellian, Katarn, and Luke.

"Mostly Luke. You know how easy it is to keep him up. I think Kyle stopped snoring, though." Teneniel shrugged. "If I heard correctly, Corran was making death threats."

"Now you eavesdrop, too?" Mara asked, somewhat annoyed.

"No. We bugged their room," the other, Allya, replied. "Katarn almost caught us ten times in a space of thirty minutes when we were setting up the equipment."

"Do I want to know?" Mara asked, shaking her head.

"The entire time we were in the room, Luke was asleep on his bed. He didn't even stir. Kyle walked back into the room every few minutes, but I was hiding on the ceiling with Allya pretending to be homework. He noticed nothing," Teneniel explained.

"Why did you bug their room?" Mara asked, now drawn into the topic.

"Guys say the darnedest things." Teneniel smiled, and Mara waved her on. "Well, there was this one time that Corran was talking about his father, and Kyle said something or other that was sort of insensitive about how Luke doesn't know who his parents are. Master Skywalker blew a gasket when we told him."

Realization dawned on Mara's face. "You two're the infamous Shadow Ninja?"

"Yup. Master Skywalker's own little covert surveillance system." Allya laughed. "You should see some of the stuff that we have on Master Kenobi! Yoda, too!"

"How've you kept this a secret?" Mara asked, a little stunned.

"Corran covers for us. He's part of our secret ops, and he's our connection to our employer (Corran _is_ Master Skywalker's Padawan)." Teneniel thought for a moment. "Now we'll have to tell Master Skywalker that you know."

"Do you really?" Mara asked. "I'd rather do a mind-wipe on myself before confronting that particular Jedi Master."

"Suit yourself," Allya replied, shrugging, and turned back to the surveillance system while Mara walked out and went back to her room. Shortly thereafter, she started giggling. "Teneniel! News flash! Tionne's holding a party in a few days!"

Teneniel blinked. "Really? Are we invited?"

Allya nodded. "Yeah. She wouldn't have told us otherwise! You know she knows about the whole system we have set up. Lots of others are coming. It's gonna be great!" The plotting resumed.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was rather amused to see a disheveled-looking Anakin walk into the refectory half-asleep with a cup of coffee. Apparently someone hadn't gotten much sleep for whatever reason. Sixteen years had passed since the fall of Chancellor Palpatine, and Anakin still hadn't figured out the wisdom in falling asleep before midnight if he had to wake up early. Anakin found a seat next to Obi-Wan and sat down. "How are you always so cheerful in the morning?" Anakin asked. 

"Because I don't stay up all night, Anakin. How much sleep did you get this time?"

Anakin groaned. "Two hours! Less than yesterday, can you believe it? Maybe I'm an insomniac or something?" He took a drink from the coffee he had with him. "In other news, how's Luke doing? I haven't had time to talk to him in the past few days since I got back from that mission on the Outer Rim concerning the Noghri."

Obi-Wan grinned. "Do the Noghri still think you're their savior?"

"Yeah... I keep telling them I'm not, but they just won't listen! It was a pretty bad crash, I'll admit, but it was nowhere near powerful enough to actually permanently damage the planet's ecosystem. The worst part is they keep calling me Lord Skywalker, and it's getting bloody annoying."

"Speaking of which, are they going to join the Republic? Do you know yet?"

Anakin sighed. "No. I don't know, but they might ally themselves with the Republic soon. I don't know how long that will be, though." He paused. "You still haven't answered my question about---"

"How is your Padawan doing?" Obi-Wan cut him off.

_Translation: I'll tell you later because there are too many people around to actually be direct, _Anakin thought. "Corran? I don't know. As I was saying, I haven't had time to talk to anyone since I got back. As far as I know, he has a test today. I think it was on the Clone Wars and the transition back to the Republic." Obi-Wan stared at him. "I'm supposed to be proctoring the test, aren't I?"

"No, Anakin. Callista's doing that."

_There's only one other explanation... _"Corran sneaked out of the Temple again?"

"And Luke. He gets in trouble without even trying or meaning to," Obi-Wan mentioned. "Like a certain Padawan I used to know. Quite frankly, I have a feeling that his ability to get in trouble is inherited. However, he does try to follow the rules, unlike the aforementioned Padawan."

"He definitely got that from his mother," Anakin said with a grin.

Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "Anakin, I know you want to tell him who his father is, but you know that the Council would probably kick one of them out. In all likelihood, it would most likely be the younger of the two. The elder would just be demoted." A meaningful stare was sent Anakin's way.

"I know. I know. It's just that his mother's been complaining about this for the past, I don't know, sixteen years that she can never see her son. You should hear the fits Leia throws, though. Force, she's as headstrong as me and as skilled at politics as her mother!"

Obi-Wan smiled and looked at the chrono on the wall. "Darn. Time for the work day."

"Do I have to go? Can't I just pretend to be sick? No one would care!"

Obi-Wan sighed. Anakin did this every time. "Anakin, no one would care except for the rest of us that don't want to listen to Jorus C'baoth complaining about the malfunctioning air conditioning. Meaning all of us."

* * *

"Ah! Mother! This is so infuriating! Why can't I go see Dad at the Temple?" Leia demanded. She was currently throwing a tantrum and throwing all of the documents she had to study around her room. Padmé sighed and waited for her daughter to calm down. This always happened when Anakin came back from missions. He was always to sleepy to really know what he was doing and generally picked up Leia's paperwork by accident. 

"Your father will realize his mistake before you need whatever he accidentally took and bring it back before lunch." Padmé had been telling Leia this since she was ten. Why her fool of a husband mistook anything of Leia's for any paperwork belonging to him was beyond Padmé.

"But it was my _diary_!" Leia exclaimed. _Oh, he better not read it! If he does... _ Leia paused, not thinking in words. _Hell with it! Pain! Lots of pain!_

"Leia, I'm sure your father didn't mean it. He won't read it either. If he wants to live, that is," Padmé added. "Besides, we have to get going. It's almost time for the Senate to start session."

"But Mom! All they ever do there is talk about nothing and more nothing! Please can I stay home today?"

"Your father won't read your diary, and no, you have to come. There's an important bill that is to be put up to vote. Don't shirk your duties."

"Why couldn't I have been a Jedi like Dad? It would have been so much easier than being a Senator! Then I wouldn't have to listen to boring old people all day!" Leia complained as she gathered up all of her stuff. It wasn't her fault that her mother happened to be a prominent Senator, so why was she being forced to take up that half of the family's job? Why couldn't she have been a Jedi? It would probably be a lot more interesting than going over trade disputes and raising taxes.

Padmé shook her head. "No, trust me, if you had been a Jedi, you'd be complaining about listening to 'boring old people' complaining of broken air conditioners."

"That sounds... fun ," Leia said, a little disturbed by the fact that it did sound better than participating in the Senate.

"...And then there are all of the Corellian Jedi which break all sorts of rules and have to be reprimanded by the Council."

"It still sounds better, Mom. Besides---"

"Of course, the Council takes coffee breaks every twenty minutes when certain Jedi are back at the Temple. Your father's always a lot happier when it's like that. He's also very hyper, too. Sometimes I think they should keep him away from any caffeinated beverage."

Leia sighed, finally giving in. "Fine. Can we just go now?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

Luke stared blankly at the sheet of paper in front of him. It was a test on the Clone Wars. Kyle was still trying to get some answers out of him, but Luke didn't notice. He was staring at the first question. _Who was the one who suggested that Palpatine be given emergency powers?_ the first question read. _A. Representative Binks of Naboo, B. Senator Organa of Alderaan, C. Senator Mothma of Chandrilla, D. Senator Bel Ibis of Corellia._ The question couldn't be that easy, Luke had thought the first time he had read it through. There had to be a catch, and sure enough, there was. He read the next line again. _In the form of an essay, explain why the remaining three did not suggest this. Use examples of legislation suggested by them or their actions to support your answer. In the concluding paragraph, make sure you mention who did suggest the emergency powers and why they did so._

Luke skipped that question for the moment and decided to read the next one. It wasn't any better than the last, unfortunately for Luke. _Describe the Battle of Utapau. Who lead the assault? How many of the Separatist leaders were captured? What was the battle's impact on the war? Many say this was the battle that won the war, but others disagree, citing the deposing of Palpatine as the end of the war. State your opinion and back it up with facts to support your answer._

"Next," Luke murmured. This test was almost the worst he had ever taken. It didn't particularly help that Corran and Kyle had kept him up until midnight, or that Kyle was still trying to cheat. Luke looked at the next question. _Summarize the battle for Coruscant. Who were the Jedi involved? Who were the Sith involved? What was the Separatist's purpose in the battle? What happened in..._

Luke stopped reading and groaned. Were all of the questions essays? He looked over to see Corran staring blankly at his own test. Apparently Luke wasn't alone. Kyle, however, was now writing away. _I bet he's writing some story instead of doing the test... _Luke thought. _Then again, _he amended, _Kyle might have actually gotten his act together and decided not to be lazy..._ The Dathomirans were doodling all over the tests yet somehow answered the questions in doodles. Luke didn't want to know what made them decide to do that. It was probably a form of protest. Jade, on the other hand, was actually taking the test.

_I should get to work, too..._ Luke decided as he looked at the next question. _Which of the following events never happened? _the question asked. Good. A multiple choice question (hopefully). _A. Anakin Skywalker broke almost every rule in the book, B. Obi-Wan Kenobi apprehended General Grievous and took the General back to Coruscant, C. Anakin Skywalker insulted an ambassador from another galaxy who offered to help with the war. Thankfully, the science officer deescalated the situation before it caused another war. The captain of the ship and Skywalker are still on extremely bitter terms, D. After Palpatine was arrested, a pilot in a little known squadron suggested that Palpatine be given a wedgie and that the event should be taped. A Senator replied that it was against the rules of war. A Jedi backed her up, saying that it was implausible to move Palpatine._

Luke stared at the question. Somehow, he knew the answer was definitely B, even though C and D sounded like pure fiction. He had to wonder, however, who wrote the test. It sounded like the Council had had nothing better to do one day and had made this up to alleviate the boredom. It sounded like something Master Windu would write. Maybe even Yoda, if the Jedi Master could write in flowing Basic. Regardless of who wrote the test and their ulterior motivation for doing so, Luke convinced himself that it would just be better if he started working, and he did.

* * *

After the class had filed out, Callista looked at the stack of papers on her desk. She knew half of them would be long winded complaints or protests. The other half would have tried to actually take the exam. She separated the the papers into three piles: complaints, forms of protest, and actual completed exams. Picking up the first form of the complaints, Callista mentally cursed the Council for assigning her the job of being the History of War teacher to a bunch of rebellious Padawans who insisted on procrastinating as much as (in most cases) humanly possible. 

The first paper was by Kyle Katarn. Callista could not have been less surprised. The first line was even less surprising. "This is a bunch of bantha fodder," Callista read out loud. She laughed a bit. Always to the point, that one was. She continued to read, "Furthermore, while I do know the material, contrary to popular belief, this test is obviously a joke. While the last question was pretty funny, I still find it detestable that you and whoever wrote the test expect us to complete all three essays in an hour. These are all definitely half an hour essays each! As a representative of the class and by the Force, I demand that you give us a new exam so we can be tested fairly.

"This all said, I know that some of the class is actually trying to take this insane test, and they should be rewarded for actually trying. I'm pretty sure Jade is one of them, but I have the feeling she's actually taking the test. Luke's staring off into space, but I think he'll actually write, too. I'm getting off topic.

"In conclusion, I think you should provide us with an alternate test to take since this one was not correctly gauged for the time allotted. However, I am willing to concede on one thing: I'm doing the test anyway since I don't particularly want to completely fail." Callista shook her head, smiling. A typical Katarn paper. After grading it, she wrote "Nice try" next to the plea for an easier test.

Setting Kyle's paper in the finished pile, she picked a random test from the middle of the forms of protest pile. It belonged to Teneniel Djo. That Dathomiran girl had some serious issue Callista decided once she saw that the answers to the test were comprised of doodles and mini-comics.

The first of the essays had an extremely inventive version of the Senate meeting in which Palpatine had been granted emergency powers. All of the Senators were caricatures of themselves, and Teneniel had made Binks look like a fool. That said, Palpatine wasn't any better off since he was drawn as a faceless person with a mask which said "I am a Dark Lord of the Sith" on it. On the contrary, Mothma, Organa, and Bel Ibis looked normal enough. There was still the random Senator which had a dunce cap on, though, but that was in character with Teneniel's nature of cynicism towards high-ranking politicians.

The second essay had a very detailed depiction of the battle of Utapau. Grievous was depicted as a metal grasshopper with respiratory problems, and Callista had no trouble accepting Teneniel's representation more than correct depictions. After the battle scenes, Teneniel had drawn a debate between herself and Allya on whether the Battle of Utapau was the battle which had ended the war. Teneniel took the side that it was the battle which ended the war, but that Palpatine's capture sped up the mopping up action since he had been the true political head of the Separatists.

The third essay/ comic was similar to the second one in that it too was basically a graphic depiction of the battle. Unlike the last, this time she did mini-biographies on each of the characters as they appeared. Callista couldn't help but laugh at some of them, particularly Anakin's, which read, "Most awesome Jedi ever, but has anger management problems in addition to not being able to work well with others. He has broken most of the Jedi laws, including the no-marriage rule (which was changed because he convinced the Council that it was stupid) and the rule which states that one cannot shirk work if certain Jedi Masters are scheduled into the Council meeting so they can to complain about the air conditioning."

What really made Callista laugh, however, was the comic which followed the last question (which Teneniel had answered correctly). The comic was of the last choice. It changed events slightly and made for a hilarious comic: instead of the Senator, which Teneniel had decided to make Alderaanian, telling the fighter pilot to cease and desist, she gave him the go ahead. Another pilot (he looked like a smuggler, quite frankly) volunteered to tape the entire episode. After Palpatine had been dragged out of the room, two of the Jedi which had been present ran after the group of crazies. The comic ended there with everyone still left in the room being completely stunned (Teneniel still had someone say a clever line to end it). Callista decided that she would definitely have to scan this into a computer and mail it to every member of the Council. There was no doubt that some of them would find it just as funny.

After giving Teneniel full marks on the test and pausing to wonder how she had gotten the four comics finished on time, Callista set the test down on top of Kyle's and picked up the first test of the actual test pile. It was by Mara Jade. Callista noticed that it had been written in story format, complete with cheesy opening lines. It didn't matter. Mara wrote quality work and wouldn't blow a test off unless she really had a problem with it. Callista started reading. _"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away"? What sort of line is that? _This was going to be a fun grading session.


	2. Rogue Detention and Dathomiran Plotting

_Hey again! Thanks for all the reviews! I forgot to mention something last chapter, though: I don't know if I'll be able to update every day for about another week since I'm being forced to take this SAT Prep class. As usual, the review responses will be at the end of the chapter. Much thanks to all who reviewed, added this to their favorites list, or added this to their story alert list. It is very much appreciated. Anyway, thank you all very much for reading, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!  
_

* * *

Wedge Antilles was having trouble staying awake through the lecture that he and his classmates were going through. It was supposedly on the genetics, but it had been redirected to being a lecture about the teachers days in the Clone Wars. It was the third war story he had heard today! In Basic class, the discussion was to have been on an incredibly ancient epic poem about some guy who was having trouble getting back home after a ten year war, but the teacher had gone off about how she had waited for a year after the Clone War was officially over to get back home. In math class, the topic was how to solve systems with more than two variables, but the teacher in that talked about how the Senate had rioted when it was discovered that Palpatine was the root of all evil. Wedge still patiently listened, knowing that the reason all that was happening was that it was the anniversary of the end of the Clone Wars. 

On the other side of the room, Wes was fast asleep. Wedge was tempted to send a note to Tycho telling him to wake Wes up. Hobbie got to the problem first and slammed a book loudly behind Wes, who snapped awake with an exclamation of "Ewoks!" causing the entire class to stare at them. Tycho tried to hold back a laugh but couldn't and broke out in uncontrollable laughter, causing the rest of the class to follow suit.

"Class!" Mr. Prefect half-shouted, trying to calm the teenagers down. Needless to say, it didn't work. Then "Lizard," as she was known to the group (most of the adults said gang) called the Rogues, stood up like the little suck up she was. "Everyone shut up!" she exclaimed in a voice that made everyone freeze and some flinch. "That's better!"

After the teacher began lecturing again, Tycho passed a note to Wedge. It was in Wes' handwriting. As he was taking notes, he read the letter. _"Iceheart strikes again, huh? Anyway, why the hell did you tell Hobbie to wake me up? I thought you'd let me drool on my notes for at least ten more minutes!"_ Wedge scribbled his reply to Wes and sent it back by way of Tycho.

Wes opened the folded sheet. Unlike himself, Wedge had easily read handwriting. _And Wedge's excuse is...? "I was thinking about it, but I can tell you for a fact that Hobs acted entirely on his own. Ask him yourself."_ Wes wrote an inquiry to Hobbie about the correctness of Wedge's statement and passed it back.

Hobbie groaned. Not the note passing thing again. Did they want another detention? It had only been a few days ago, and they had dragged two of their friends who didn't go the same school into it, too. Hobbie read the note. _"Hobs: 1. What was your motivation for slamming the geology textbook? 2. Can I borrow your whiteout? I mean, Lizard's just asking for some whiteout in her hair."_ Hobbie rolled his eyes, wishing Wes would grow up but knowing that his friend would most likely keep doing pranks for the rest of his life. Maybe even after that, too. Hobbie wrote a note to Tycho with a postscript attached for Wedge. He dropped the paper on the floor.

Tycho stealthy recovered the note and read it. _"Tych, was it a mistake waking him up? I mean, he started the whole note-passing thing again. Last time he did this, we got stuck in detention because he had to write that stupid narrative about Jar Jar Binks and how the Gungan was actually a rocket scientist and the true person behind the Clone Wars. Should I stop him? (P.S. Wedge, do you think I should give Wes the whiteout?)"_ Tycho hid a grin and wrote his reply to Hobbie and an addendum to Hobbie's message for Wedge before passing it to Wedge.

Wedge looked at the now crinkled, writing-covered piece of paper, sighed, and read the messages he had missed. _"Wedge, come on! You have to give Hobbie the OK! It would be worth the detention! Hobs, don't stop Wes. He might get on a roll and make up some bogus story worthy of asking Corran to edit so it can be published in the school newspaper. Oh, and GIVE HIM THE WHITEOUT!"_

Tycho read the replies Wedge had written and was sorely disappointed by Wedge. He wanted to follow the rules, for Force's sake! _"Hobbie---No. Don't give it to him. Even Lizard doesn't deserve to look like a skernkcoon. Tycho---I know it would be funny, but as I said, she doesn't deserve it. What sort of Alderaanian are you?"_ Tycho snickered. He wrote his reply and passed the note to Hobbie again.

Hobbie read the note. The most recent scribble was written by Tycho. _"I'm a Alderaanian teenager who happens to be friends with loons. Face it Wedge, insanity is infectious. GIVE WES THE WHITEOUT, HOBS!"_ Sighing, Hobbie wrote replies and handed the note and whiteout to an incredibly happy Wes.

While preparing the whiteout for painting a stripe in Lizard's hair, Wes read the note. _Hm... Wedge is being an upstanding citizen. He's nuts... Lesse, oh, Hobs is paging most of us now..."Wes---the waking up was completely me. Wedge wasn't involved. Tycho---you're the bad influence, but completely right about it being worth detention. Wedge---I gave him the whiteout. Sorry."_ Wes passed the note back to Tycho, who grinned and passed it to Wedge, who looked rather peeved after reading it. After about five minutes of hair painting done by Wes, Lizard had a white stripe in her hair and, from the back, did rather resemble a skernkcoon (but more like an member of the extinct species 'skunk'). Most of the class behind Wes was trying not to laugh at the insanity which was yet again being spread by the Prankmaster General of the Rogues.

After being passed back his whiteout, Hobbie needed to use it to correct a mistake in his notes. He opened the bottle. There was nothing left. "Wes! You used all of my whiteout!" he shouted while standing up.

Ysanne Isard, also known as "Iceheart" and "Lizard," connected the dots and figured out what had happened. She was one of the smartest in the class, after all. It had only been a cruel twist of fate that today, Friday the 13th, she had been forced to take a seat in front of Wes Janson. Now she probably had all of Hobbie Klivian's whiteout in her hair, and, knowing how Janson's mind worked, she probably looked like a skernkcoon to boot. Looking to the left, she noticed that Antilles was pretending not to know either Janson or Klivian and that Tycho Celchu was trying very hard not to laugh. She turned around in her chair. "Janson," she said without emotion.

Janson put on a fake smile. The expression practically screamed: oh, sith, she knows. "Yes, Liz---Isard?" he replied.

"Be very glad that the Empire never happened. I would have taken great pleasure in signing your death warrant," Isard declared, smiling sweetly. "I'll get you for this!" she hissed quietly enough for the teacher not to notice.

What the teacher had noticed was that Isard had a whiteout streak in her hair, Janson was sitting behind her, and that the rest of the Rogues were somehow involved as well. "Antilles, Celchu, Janson, Klivian. You stay after class," Mr. Prefect announced. They weren't going to get away with this unharmed. They should be lucky that he didn't have the power to give them a Saturday detention. Too bad the other two Rogues wouldn't be included in the detention. The Academy still had to find out where those two were from.

* * *

In the space around Coruscant, a certain beat-up looking freighter jumped out of hyperspace. It had been won by its current pilot in a game of sabacc a while back. The ship, while it looked like a hunk of junk, was one of the fastest in the galaxy. It may not have been the most reliable ship due to its numerous upgrades and jury-rigging, but it was a good one. On that point, everyone agreed, even the ones who had the opinion that it was in need of a new façade or a new coat of paint, at least. 

The pilot of said ship was a Corellian smuggler. He had been an officer in the Republic fleet at one point, but he had gotten fed up with all of the bureaucratic nonsense which was spouted continuously at him. After a while, he got so fed up with it all, he resigned his commission and set out to make his own fortune. How he had ended up working for the Hutts, he would never know, but he had to admit that it did pay well.

The copilot was a Wookie who had shown up shortly after the pilot had resigned his commission, and the Wookie had pledged a life debt to the pilot because the pilot had saved him from a bounty hunter. While the Wookie had been a pain in the beginning, the pilot had to admit that he was an invaluable ally and was more of his best friend now.

Regardless, he had been called to Coruscant for some sort of job. Neither the pilot or copilot knew who had contacted them or why they had been contacted, but the job paid enough for both of them to ignore both unknowns. They had been really lucky with the timing of the call since they had had a job to do on a nearby Core world. After gaining clearance to land from space-traffic control, the pilot and copilot decided to rent a landing platform near the Senate to throw the bounty hunter (if he had tracked them) off.

* * *

After the Senate finished debating for the day, Leia made a beeline towards the Jedi Temple to reclaim her diary from her father. _You know, he probably started reading it by mistake_ _in front of the Jedi Council, thinking it was his report! That would be mortifying!_ Leia thought as she hailed a cab. Her mother had okayed her excursion since Nacho (Leia's nickname for her father which had sprung from an incident with cinnamon buns and nachos) had called and said that he would have to stay at the Temple late since Adi Gallia had decided to give a dissertation on why they should have coffee breaks on a normal basis instead of one every twenty minutes for a few hours and then one every ten hours. Apparently it was a rather serious discussion and merited an long Council session. 

After reaching the Temple (and paying the taxicab driver), Leia walked in and went in the direction she was pretty sure was the correct route to reach the Council chambers as soon as possible. Ten minutes passed, and Leia knew she was completely lost. While roaming the halls and trying to get back to the entrance, she ran into a red headed girl about her age. "Uh... Excuse me?" Leia asked. "Do you know where the Cou---" Leia stopped herself. Why ask where the Council chambers were if she could ask where her father was? "Do you know where my father is?"

The other girl stared at her like Leia was insane. "What the hell? Did you get lost or something and separated from your father?"

Leia rolled her eyes. "No! I'm not that harebrained! I meant do you know where Anakin Skywalker is? The stupid idiot ran off with my diary this morning."

The other girl repressed a laugh. "I'm sorry. It's sort of hard to imagine that guy with kids!" She smiled. "Well, I don't know where he is exactly, but I know some girls who do... They'd be more than willing to help you in your quest. I take it you aren't too happy about the journal-napping?"

"You got that right!" Leia exclaimed as she followed the other girl down the hall. "By the way, I'm Leia."

"Mara." She said nothing more for a minute. "I should warn you..."

"Warn me about what?" Leia asked, curious.

"Ignore any and all guys in the room next door to Teneniel and Allya's room. Sure, one of them is almost normal. On the other hand, one of them is the class troublemaker, and the third is your father's apprentice and informant. Teneniel and Allya are a little eccentric as well. I also believe that---" Mara slapped herself on the forehead. "Dammit! I forgot! They're at Tionne's party! I'm such an idiot!"

Leia blinked. "Party? Tionne? You mean you guys are allowed to have parties?"

Mara laughed cynically. "No! Of course not! This is what the more liberal Jedi Masters call a 'study session' in order to keep the more conservative Jedi Masters from keeping us from having fun."

"Really?" Leia asked. It sounded like a bunch of lies. "I don't believe you."

"Good. I was making it up, but certain Jedi Masters would like to keep us from partying on Temple grounds." Mara suddenly stopped in front of a door. "Well, here we are." She knocked on the door which opened by a crack.

"Password?" a voice asked.

"Teneniel, if you don't let me in, I'll go dark side on your miserable hide."

"Should I let her in?" Teneniel asked someone else inside before turning back to Mara. "We have reached a consensus that if we let you in, you have to stay and play truth or dare with us."

Leia looked between Mara, who looked a little angry, and all she could see of Teneniel, the person hiding behind the door. "Uh, Teneniel?" she ventured.

"Yes?" Teneniel said, turning to look at the new person. "Who are you and from where have you come? Why are you here, too?"

"I'm Leia, I came from the Senate building, and I'm looking for my idiot father so I can get my diary back," she replied.

"Ah. And the father-person is?" Teneniel asked as Mara rolled here eyes.

"Anakin Skywalker."

"Hey! I work for him! Come in!" Teneniel exclaimed. Leia shrugged and walked into the room. Mara was about to follow, but Teneniel barred her way. "Truth or Dare?"

Mara groaned. "Fine. I'll stay." Teneniel let her in and shut the door.

"I'm Allya. So... What information do you require?" she asked.

Leia stared at the rest of the people in the room. Apparently this was a slumber party. Maybe she should stay if she couldn't find her father and her mom let her. "I'm looking for my dad, Anakin Skywalker?"

Allya laughed. "No, seriously. What do you want to know? Heck, what grade are you in?"

"I wasn't kidding! I'm looking for that idiot because he accidentally took my diary!" Leia exclaimed, quite frustrated.

"Oh. I didn't realize," Allya replied. "Well, I'm sorry to break the news, but---"

Teneniel continued. "We haven't seen him since the Council raided the teacher's lounge for all of their instant coffee. He, Master Kenobi, and Adi were flying down the hallway, being chased by Callista and the Dark Woman."

"This means?" Leia asked, pretty sure that she wasn't going to find her father any time soon.

"He probably won't come out of hiding until tomorrow," Tionne replied. "Say, do you want to stay with us? I'd love for you to join us."

Leia smiled. "That would be great."

A thought struck Teneniel's mind. "Mara, we'll let you out for a few minutes if you go find Master Skywalker."

Mara's semi-happy expression suddenly changed into a rather angry one. "No. There is no way I'm going near him."

"Then find Corran! He'd know where Master Skywalker is!" Allya offered as an alternative solution. "Then you can tell Corran to tell Master Skywalker that---"

"Leia," Leia supplied.

"---is looking for him. You wouldn't have to even be in the same room as him!"

Mara glared at Allya and Teneniel. "Fine," she grumbled. "I get to pass on a truth or dare later in exchange."

"Of course!" Tionne replied, smiling sweetly.

"I'm going to get this over with as soon as possible," Mara declared and walked out of the room.

Leia raised an eyebrow. "Why does Mara dislike talking to Nacho?"

Teneniel laughed and asked, "Is that what you call him?" Leia nodded. "Wow. Anyway, it's a long/short story. You see, wherever Anakin---do you mind if we call him that?" Leia shook her head. "Ok, so, wherever Anakin is, Obi-Wan Kenobi is. Now, Mara hasn't really gotten along well with either of the two for whatever reason. She had harbored some sort of antipathy towards you father because of these dreams she had had when she was younger. They were visions of an alternate future or something like that. Well, the other main reason has to do with the fact that your dad hangs out with Obi-Wan a lot."

"Yeah. Obi-Wan comes over for dinner every so often," Leia commented. "He trained Dad, I think."

"You see, the real, sort of subconscious reason Mara avoids your father is because of Obi-Wan's apprentice," Teneniel finished.

Leia laughed. "Are you serious? She has a crush on Obi-Wan's apprentice?"

"Hence the insistence upon playing Truth or Dare," Allya added.

Tionne nodded. "You see, she won't admit it. In fact, she's a little more sarcastic around him, and they sometimes argue up a storm. Last time, Adi and your father had to practically drag them into different rooms to keep them from starting an actual fight."

"There's also this rumor," Teneniel told Leia. "You see, our class is pretty gossipy, and we come up with rumors every twenty minutes. Of course, all the information I receive as the truth is actually true."

Allya nodded. "We're your dad's spies. We have so much dirt on most of the Council, it's insane. I mean, we even have footage of Obi-Wan cursing at a video game!"

Leia was wide-eyed in amazement. Her father had a spy network? Did he know about the time she had accidentally flushed his socks down the toilet? "Wait, what about the rumor? What does that have to do with Mara staying as far away from my father as humanly possible?"

"The rumor's just the theory that Obi-Wan's apprentice is actually your brother."

"I don't have a brother," Leia stated. What a crazy idea. It was almost as crazy as the idea of her marrying some scruffy-looking nerfherder of a smuggler or something.

"But Mara doesn't know that," Tionne pointed out. "It's a crazy idea, anyway. Almost something out of a fairy tale."

"It would be awesome if it were true, though," Allya declared. "I mean, aren't you a princess or something?"

Leia blushed. "Look, that is only because Bail's been a good friend of my family for a long time---"

"It still makes you Princess of Alderaan," Teneniel pointed out, "and according to what Anakin says, you stay there half the year."

"Does he ever keep his mouth shut?" Leia muttered to no one in particular.

Seizing the moment, Allya spoke up. "Leia? I have a few questions about some things which your dad hasn't really elaborated on ever."

"Questions? Like what?" Leia asked. "Like who Jar Jar is or something?"

"He mentions this Jar Jar creature a lot," Teneniel mentioned. "What is Jar Jar?"

"A Gungan, from my mother's homeworld of Naboo," Leia answered. "He's another old friend of the family."

"Then why does anakin hide behind Obi-Wan every time Jar Jar comes to visit?"

"Jar Jar's a really nice and enthusiastic person, but he is a tad..." Leia searched for a word. "...clumsy, I guess. He apparently met Obi-Wan while having been exiled from his hometown of Otoh Gunga for being clumsy. And crashing Boss Nass' luxury heyblibber."

"What's a heyblibber?" Allya asked.

"I don't know," Leia replied, shrugging. "I think it's a yacht or something. After thirty years, I don't think even Obi-Wan knows either."

* * *

Mara was so busy stomping around the Temple looking for Corran that she almost missed him outside the hanger. It was only by chance that she ran into him since he had forgotten his wallet and ran back to his room to get it. "Corran!" she exclaimed. "Hey, I need you to deliver a message to Master Skywalker!" 

Corran stared at Mara skeptically. "Really? Why can't you deliver the message? I'm about to go out to meet some friends."

Mara looked back anxiously in the direction of Tionne's room. She would do anything to stall going back there or to stay away from Master Skywalker. "Hey, could I come along? I'm sort of trying to avoid some people..."

Corran grinned. "Ah. So Djo and Harken were able to con you into participating in Tionne's little soirée?"

"Shut up, Halcyon!" Mara growled. "If you weren't Master Skywalker's Padawan, I'd deck you right here and now!"

Corran shook his head, amused by the whole situation. "Fine, Mara, but you have to promise not to threaten to kill or kill any of my friends."

"I promise," Mara swore. As she had decided, she would do anything to keep from going back for as long a time as possible.

"No maiming, either," Corran added as they walked into the hanger.

"Force! I'm not a monster, you know!" Mara exclaimed. "You treat me like I'm an assassin or a mercenary or a smuggler!"

"I wasn't aware you were an assassin or a smuggler," Corran joked with a look of mock surprise on his face, knowing he was making Mara want to punch him. "You're just going to have to deal with the joking, Mara."

"Let me guess, you have real delinquent friends?" Mara said sarcastically.

"Yup. As a matter of fact, we were planning on breaking them out of detention."

"Wonderful. I'm going to be with a group of escapees from the funny farm---Wait, Corran. What do you mean, 'we'?" She stopped dead in her tracks and glared at Corran, who was looking around the hanger bay. "Who else is 'we'?" she demanded.

Corran didn't verbally reply, but he grinned as a four-seater navy blue speeder pulled up. Mara felt like groaning when she saw who it was. _Just my luck. Katarn and Skywalker!_ she thought without really thinking. _What in the hells! I just thought of Luke as Skywalker! Damn! I should have just delivered that message to the caffeine-high Jedi Master!_ "Uh," Mara managed to say. "Hi."

"Ma---Jade! Wh-what are you doing here?" Luke stammered. _What's she doing here?_ he thought. _Now Wes is gonna come up with a plot or, even worse, a betting pool._

"Can't you two ever say 'hello' like normal people?" Kyle demanded.

"You know that's impossible," Corran said as he jumped into the back seat of the speeder. Luke was driving, and Kyle was in the passenger seat.

Mara got in the back seat, too, and she was pretty relieved that Kyle hadn't suddenly decided to sit in the back, causing her to have to sit next to Luke. That guy drove her crazy. Teneniel and Allya were out of their minds. There was no way whatsoever that she liked _him_ of all people. "So where are we going?" Mara asked.

Kyle let out an exasperated sigh. He glared at Corran. "Did you tell her nothing?" he asked before addressing Mara. "We're going to the Academy. I got dragged into this to help these two idiots bust four idiots out of detention. Apparently this happens a lot but never on Fridays, and the teachers beefed up security in order to catch these two idiots in the act of trying to get the other four out."

"Still haven't figured out we're Jedi in training, either," Corran added with an amused grin on his face.

Mara then noticed that the three guys were in normal clothing. Kyle was wearing a nondescript brown shirt and a pair of pants very much like the shirt. Corran was wearing a pair of jeans and black shirt with some band's name on it. Mara was pretty sure Luke was wearing something black, but she couldn't tell any more than that since she was sitting behind him. She was wearing normal clothing, too, but that was because she had already retired to her room before running into Leia. Mara bit back a curse. She felt bad about leaving Leia back there without telling the message to anyone willing to carry to the Caffeinated One.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked her. Mara hated it when he did that. How in the hells could he tell?

"Nothing. I just was supposed to tell Master Skywalker that his daughter was angry at him for taking her diary and wanted it back," Mara replied as nonchalantly as she could.

"Wait---Master has a daughter?" Corran asked. "When did that happen?"

"Do you know anything about him?" Kyle asked. "Hey, I at least talk to Plo!"

"She's our age, you know," Mara told Corran. "and acts eerily like her father. She looks almost nothing like him, more like the Senator from Naboo."

"That's probably because Master Skywalker's married to the Senator from Naboo," Corran replied. "See, Kyle? I know something about him!"

"Did she say anything about Jar Jar?" Luke asked.

"Jar Jar? You mean that Gungan that started the vote to give Palpatine emergency powers?" Mara replied with more questions.

"Yeah. Master Skywalker talks about him sometimes. There was this one story where Jar Jar crashed this thing called a heyblibber and got kicked out of the Gungan city he was from. Because of that, he met Master Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn," Luke explained.

"Someone's full of useless trivia again," Corran noted.

"I wonder why?" Kyle said, grinning mischievously.

"Leave me alone," Luke complained. "Can't you ever be useful?"

"I'm the one who is messing with the security cameras," Kyle retorted. "I mean, I could just forget to do that, and you get to have a little chat with the Council."

"If you do that, I'll rat you out myself," Corran threatened. "If Luke gets caught, the Council will immediately turn to me, then I'll implicate you."

"Hey, what am I going to do while you go on some ridiculous rescue mission?" Mara asked, hoping she could help in some way.

Corran answered her. "Well, we do need someone to break into the air ducts..."

"Whatever happened to opening the windows and escaping that way?"

"It's not sufficiently complicated," Luke replied. "I mean, according to Kyle."

"Come on! Escaping through the air vents is so more inventive than climbing out a window!" Kyle protested.

Mara then had an idea. "Would walking out through the front door be good enough?"

"Only if you wear a dress for the rest of the night."

"I accept your conditions," Mara replied. "Besides, if this takes long enough, I can evade Teneniel and Allya long enough."

"I doubt it," Luke said. "They stay up till about 2 every day. We'll get back way before then."

"Don't ruin my delusions, Luke. If I have to wear a dress, then you'd better keep your mouth shut about it," Mara warned him. "Or suffer the consequences." Kyle was about to make a witty comment about just what those so-called "consequences" might be. "Katarn, be quiet and contemplate all of the possible meanings of the phrase 'silent as the grave'. Unless, of course, you _want_ to sing soprano."

* * *

_Review Responses:_

**_Yuna-flowering_**_, **Niraha Skywalker**, **cyndur**: Thank you all for returning for the sequel!_

_**nakry**,** Jahiro19**: Thank you for reviewing!_

_**LunaticPandora1**: Yes, he's the one and only Kyle Katarn. (I think he might be a tad OOC, though...) Thanks for reviewing!  
_

_**Witchy-grrl**: Thank you for reviewing. I'm glad you like my characterization of Teneniel and the comic essays!  
_


	3. Partying with Jedi and Coffee Snatchers

_Hello again! Thank you for reading (I've now actually added a space at the end where I'm thanking the reviewers, etc. at the end). I really appreciate it. Sorry, by the way, for taking so long to put this chapter up. I made it a little longer than the normal ones since it did take a while and I still have SAT class until the 8th of July. In other news, the plot might start to move faster from now on (hopefully). Anyway, thank you all very much for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter!  
_

* * *

They had been in detention for little more than thirty minutes, and Wes was still insisting that Luke and Corran were going to break them out. Hobbie was watching the clock, counting down the minutes until they would be allowed out of the classroom. Tycho had ascertained earlier that the windows had been locked, theoretically preventing their escape from that way. Wedge had started doing his homework after that while Wes declared the injustice of holding them there over the intercom. Dr. Jones, the only cool teacher in the entire school, had come into the classroom and taken away the intercom, but he had stayed to find out what had happened. Dr. Jones, of course, thought the plan was brilliant, but he finished up the conversation by saying he did have to go and took the intercom device for the room with him. Shortly after Dr. Jones left, Hobbie gave in to Wedge's theory. "Face it, Wes, Wedge is right. We'll actually have to stay in detention for the full three hours."

"Just because they're about fifteen minutes late doesn't mean that they aren't coming!" Wes retorted before going back to working on the plans for a contraption to either open the windows or unlock the door.

"Really?" Wedge asked sarcastically: he hadn't done anything to actually get in detention in the first place, and the whole mess was all Wes' fault. "Do you think that they would actually try to get us out of detention yet again now that half of the faculty is obsessed with catching them in the act of freeing us from this prison?"

"There's no need to be melodramatic!" Tycho exclaimed. "Look, there could have been traffic or something! I mean, it is a Friday at rush hour. Also, whatever scheme they have probably come up with this time probably takes time, so we should just wait patiently for them to break us the hell out of here."

"And if they don't show up?" Hobbie asked. "What happens then? We wait for another two and a half hours!" He gestured to the room. "I don't think I can stay here for that long! It's Friday night for the Force's sake!"

They suddenly heard a tapping on the window. There was no one there, but there was a note stuck to it. The four looked at each other. Wes was grinning. "I told you. Who was right?" Wedge glared at him as Tycho walked over to the window to see what the letter said. "Well?" Wedge asked, trying to ignore Wes for the moment. "What's it say?"

Tycho squinted, trying to read the handwriting. "I think it says, 'Sorry we're late, but Corran was an idiot and forgot his wallet for paying for dinner tonight (also picked up two more people than usual). Beware of falling ceiling tiles and air vent covers.' Great. We get to go through the air ducts." He spoke too soon since a second piece of flimsiplast attached itself to the window.

Wedge walked over. "What does this one say?"

Tycho read it to himself first and blanched. "Uh, it's from Corran and he only wrote, 'Beware of infuriated red heads in pretty pink dresses.' ...I think they blackmailed Dash."

Wes scoffed. "No, Dash would rather die than wear a dress. It's probably some girl from their school who was conned into it." As he said that, the door to the room opened. In the doorway was the red head which had been mentioned as well. She was wearing a dark pink, almost magenta dress which fit her pretty well. Then another stepped into the doorway: Mr. Smith, the Rogues sworn archenemy and principal of the school.

"Antilles, your sister's here to see you," Smith said, glaring at the Rogue in question. "She says it's a family emergency." His eyes roamed around the room. "You all know that if it was up to me, you'd all be in detention for the next millennia."

"Stop acting like a government agent, Smith. It doesn't suit you," Tycho shot back.

"We'll see who is laughing after the rest of your little gang is caught," Smith menaced, glaring at the Rogue which had spoken. "Restraining orders will be in order and maybe even the law will allow for the gang to be broken up." Smith turned to the girl. "You have ten minutes with these miscreants," he told her before leaving.

Once the door had shut, the girl turned to them. "The Corellian idiot sent me. Are you ready to go, or must I wait for you to get your acts together?" she asked them dryly.

Wes looked at his plans. "I'm ready to get the hell out of here," he announced, throwing the papers in the trash. Tycho and Hobbie nodded in agreement. Wedge hesitantly nodded as well.

"Good," the girl said. "Only one of you has a driver's license, correct?"

"Yes," Wedge replied. "Wes had his taken away for reckless driving, Tycho still hasn't gotten his permit, and Hobbie's was taken away for crashing into one too many things, mainly traffic signs and there was this one time in the parking garage---"

"Hey! Can we concentrate on escaping instead of my driving problems?" Hobbie pleaded. "I for one would rather be out of here!"

"He's right," the girl said. "Look, here's the deal: we're all just going to calmly walk out the front door like there is nothing wrong in the least. Got it?"

"Are you insane?" Tycho asked. "That's crazier than anything Corran could ever devise, or that friend of his that he talks about from time to time, Kyle."

She laughed and opened the door. "Kyle wanted to get you out by way of the air vents. Consider yourselves lucky that I was there to talk those idiots out of it."

* * *

Luke was waiting in the speeder for everyone to get back. Corran was supposed to be talking to the secretary in the school office while Kyle messed with the video feed. Mara still hadn't come back yet. It was almost ten minutes, and that meant that she might have failed. Luke doubted that. Everything was probably going completely to plan, and the rest of the Rogues would be walking down the main hallway, completely unnoticed. Even if they were noticed, Mara could always use a Jedi Mind Trick on them. 

At that moment, Mara, Kyle, and the Rogues sprinted out of the building. _Brilliant. They got caught,_ Luke thought. The group split up with Corran, Wedge, Tycho and Hobbie going towards Wedge's speeder (which was actually his sister's, but it was on loan) and Wes, Kyle, and Mara coming towards the speeder Luke was driving. _Just my luck. Kyle **and** Wes to make fun of me._ Kyle and Wes reached the speeder first and literally jumped into the back seat, landing rather haphazardly. Mara actually took the time to open the door, but she managed to get in the same amount of time that the other two took. Once everyone was completely inside (Wes' feet had been hanging out), Luke took off immediately. "And why was everyone running out of the building like bats out of hell?" he asked once they were a few blocks away.

"Smith. I swear to God! He's a freaking computer program!" Wes announced.

"Was that the name of that crazy guy with the sunglasses that was chasing you down the hall?" Kyle inquired.

"Of course." Wes paused. "Luke, why are you driving? Last time you drove, we almost got arrested! You drive like that one crazy Jedi drives!" Wes turned towards Mara. "Speaking of Jedi, who are you? ...and how did Lukie get you into that dress?"

"The name's Jade," Mara replied, glaring at him. "That's all you need to know."

"Don't call me Lukie," Luke grumbled.

"So, where are we going, exactly?" Kyle asked. "I was only brought along to mess up the cameras."

"We are going to the 'Seventh Paradise'. It's this awesome restaurant that we eat at every so often," Wes replied. "But it costs a fortune, so we only go there for special occasions. Like today."

Luke groaned. "No. You didn't..."

"Yes, my friend, we did decide to throw you a birthday party after all." Wes grinned.

"What!" Mara exclaimed as she turned around and glared at Kyle. "So _this _is why you insisted that I wear a dress." She then glared at Luke. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"How was I supposed to know what they were up to?" Luke protested. "I'm not a mind reader!" Silence. "Ok, so I am, but I don't read my friends' minds!"

"What kind of Jedi are you?" Kyle asked. "Geez, Old Kenobi's really making sure you stay on the straight and narrow path, ain't he? No partying, no running down the halls, do your homework, no participating in any of Lord Skywalker's pranks! the list goes on and on! And you actually _listen_ to him! It's disgraceful that one of my roommates acts like that..."

"Lord Skywalker?" Mara asked dubiously. "Do I want to know?"

"I saw him in the halls today," Kyle replied, obviously remembering something. "Oh, hey, I was supposed to tell you, Luke, that he was looking for you. Then Adi convinced him to go on a coffee raid. Anyway, it's what the Noghri call him. Apparently the lithe, catlike aliens which would apparently make good assassins call him that because they believe he saved the planet from an ecological disaster. Hence 'Lord Skywalker'. Personally, I don't think that really has all that much of a ring to it."

"Would 'Lord Katarn' be better?" Mara suggested sarcastically.

"That doesn't quite have a ring to it either," Wes pointed out. "Of course, by Katarn, I'm guessing you mean Kyle."

They sped along in silence for a few minutes. Luke was concentrating on driving; Mara was staring out the window, trying to ignore the other occupants of the speeder. Kyle was staring at random things, mostly the scenery, and thinking about what Mara was going to do to him when they got back to the Temple. He thought she almost seemed angry enough to tell Yoda about it. Wes was grinning like an idiot. It was so obvious that Luke liked Jade. He just had to tell the other guys. Of course, Corran had probably already filled them all in.

"Oh! How was that test you guys had today?" Wes asked.

"Doom," Kyle replied laconically.

"It wasn't quite that bad," Luke added. "I mean, that's not to say it wasn't the worst test ever, but it was not as bad as Kyle makes it out to be."

"Three essays on the Clone Wars in an hour?" Mara scoffed. "Luke, you are the craziest Goddamn Jedi I have ever met, V---Master Skywalker included." _What the heck was I about to say? _she wondered. _Maybe it has to do with those old visions..._

"Sounds awful," Wes commented. "We only had to listen to three boring lectures about the war."

"Did that have anything to do with landing you and the others in detention yet again?" Luke asked Wes.

"Oh, yeah. I was sleeping, not harming anyone, but Hobs just had to slam a book behind me to wake me up. Quite frankly, it was a freaky dream about fuzzy, short teddy bear type creatures celebrating some gigantic, galactic victory, so I was glad to wake up on one level. Anyway, I thought Wedge told Hobs to wake me up, so I did the normal thing---sent him a note."

"That's normal?" Mara asked, not believing him. "Sounds about as normal as Teneniel's hobbies."

"Don't interrupt! It's rude!" Wes scolded. "Where was I?"

"Note," Luke answered.

"Ah. Yes. So Lizard was being a suck up again, and I felt that it was my civic duty to play a prank on her. But what to do? I decided that she would look much better if her hair actually had a pattern; I asked Hobs for his whiteout. After consulting Wedge and Tycho, Hobs gave in and gave it to me, much to Wedge's dismay. I painted her hair in the fashion of a skernkcoon and gave the whiteout back. Hobs then blew the plan to pieces when he yelled at me for using all of his whiteout. The teacher caught us, and we were sentenced to detention to be served after school for three hours."

"Wow," Kyle remarked. "That's... so... how did you come up with that in only a few minutes? Or was it pre-planned?"

"A little of both," Wes admitted. "You see, Lizard has this weird hair which is black but has a white stripe in the front, so I've been entertaining the thought of giving her a stripe in the back for quite a while. Today was just the chance to do so. It wasn't a completely ingenious, spur of the moment plan."

"You have the most amazing ability to attract such strange friends, Luke," Mara observed. "I mean, there's Katarn, the Corellian, Wes, Master Skywalker. The list goes on, you know. It's pretty long."

Luke smiled. "Yes, Mara. You're on the list, too."

"Unfortunately," Mara sighed. "It's more of a curse than anything else..."

"Very funny."

"I know. Isn't my wit simply astounding?"

* * *

Anakin Skywalker was in a closet. He was hiding from the wrath of the Jedi who taught normal school subjects to the children. Why, some might ask? It was because he had spirited away a good deal of the instant coffee. The good instant coffee. This was why he was in a closet instead of at home with his wife and daughter. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi was also in the closet. He was in there because he had replaced the coffee with instant hoi-broth and had had to run just as fast as Anakin away from the angered Jedi. It wasn't his fault that the Council didn't like hoi-broth. In fact, he was allergic to it! Besides, just because he was giving them the hoi-broth didn't necessarily mean that he was in league with Anakin. But he was, and that was the problem.

Adi Gallia was also stuck in the closet. Keep in mind that this wasn't a big closet, but one of those smallish, cramped, and completely stuffed broom closets. There wasn't much room. She had the misfortune of having been the lookout. A lot of good that had done. She hadn't meant to appropriate all of the Sprite out of the fridge. It didn't look like anyone liked it, anyway. Apparently, it was Callista and the Dark Woman's favorite drink.

"Think we're safe yet?" Anakin queried.

"Can you still sense them waiting outside the door?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Just go and stomp all over my hope, will you?" Adi murmured.

"Maybe if we just give them the coffee back, they'll---"

"Obi-Wan, do you want to drink the coffee that Yoda makes? Or, do you want us to have something edible?" Anakin asked him.

"I vote for the edible," Adi mentioned.

"Then how about offering them all of the Sprite?" Obi-Wan suggested.

"Sure. That will make Callista and the Dark Woman go away, but what about the others?" Adi asked. "I mean, I think Ranik's sort of P.O.'d at us for giving them all of the hoi-broth concentrate."

"We can run for it," Anakin decided. "I'll try to explain to Ranik later that it was because of Obi-Wan's allergy."

"Sure, he'll _so_ believe that," Adi replied and rolled her eyes.

"He might," Obi-Wan decided. "It's almost a reasonable explanation."

"So we run for it on three?" Anakin asked. "I mean, we also have to give the Sprite back." He handed Obi-Wan half of the coffee and, taking the Sprite from her, gave Adi the other half of the coffee. "I'll give the Sprite back. You two run for it. They still think I have all of the coffee."

"Anakin, this is one of the goofiest things you've ever done," Obi-Wan said. "This is including that time you fainted and the smuggler got it on tape."

"I thought we weren't supposed to talk about that?" Anakin said menacingly, glaring at Obi-Wan.

"One..." Adi started, reaching for the handle of the door to shut the other two up. "Two... Three!" She exclaimed and opened the door. Obi-Wan sprinted past Callista, and Adi ran past the Dark Woman in the opposite direction as Obi-Wan.

Anakin just walked out of the closet. Ranik Solusar, Callista, and the Dark Woman formed a little semicircle around him to keep him from escaping. "Hey... You know, we can still end this peacefully..."

"Where did Adi go? She stole the Sprite. Tell us," Callista commanded him.

Anakin laughed nervously and produced the twelve-pack. "Adi says she's sorry."

The Dark Woman took the Sprite. "Good. She should be. You, on the other hand, stole all of the coffee. Where is that?"

"Uhhh..." Anakin searched the recesses of his mind for an explanation. "I ate it?"

Ranik actually looked a little happy. "Oh. I hate coffee." He glared at Anakin. "Who gave us the broth?"

"Obi-Wan!" Anakin exclaimed. "It's all his fault! Not me! I don't have the coffee!"

"You are one hell of a crappy liar," Callista stated. "And the real reasoning behind the broth is?"

"Obi-Wan's allergic to it," Anakin stated, speaking at the speed of light. "Couldn't keep it in the break room. He had to stay in the Council Chambers while we were on our coffee breaks, thus subjecting him to even more time of Jorus C'baoth complaining about the malfunctioning air conditioning. I'm sorry; we'll never do it again!"

"...Hey, Anakin?" Ranik said. "Isn't it your kids' birthday today?"

Anakin slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh, Force. I can't believe I forgot... This isn't fair! Padmé's going to kill me!"

While he was distracted, Callista decided to do a Jedi Mind Trick on him. "_You will tell us who has the coffee_," she said with a wave of her hand.

"Adi and Obi-Wan have it," Anakin replied.

"_You will forget we had this conversation_," Callista continued with another wave of her hand.

Ranik suppressed a laugh, then added, "_Except for the part about your wife killing you for forgetting what day it is_," as they walked off.

Anakin snapped back into reality once they were gone. His memory had a strange blank from between when Adi and Obi-Wan ran out of the closet and the point he was at. Anakin realized one of the three who were standing outside the closet mind-wiped him. He remembered something about Padmé killing him, but that was it. _What was the date again?_ he thought. _Oh yeah... The twins' birthday..._ "Dammit!" he cursed as he tried to sense where they were. _That's odd. Leia's at the Temple... and Luke's not. I have a bad feeling about this... _"He probably took my new speeder, too!" Anakin muttered to himself as he walked vaguely in the direction of where Leia was, wondering why she was there.

* * *

"Well, Chewie, now what do we do?" Han Solo asked. He was still sitting in the pilot's seat of the _Millennium Falcon_. They had just landed seconds before. "I mean, we have almost an entire day until we have to meet with the client." 

Chewie made a suggestion as the _Falcon_ finished powering down.

"A respectable restaurant? What else shall we do? Go out to the theatre?"

Chewie rolled his eyes and replied that Han should stop being so sarcastic, and maybe they could get actual hotel rooms instead of sleeping on the _Falcon_.

"It's not like we have extra money lying around. I mean, I don't even know how much the planet's changed since the last time I was here. Some dive I used to frequent might now be some five star restaurant!"

Chewie commented that any place that Han had gone to on a student's salary or even on a low ranking officer's salary would probably only have been able to elevate itself from the worst conditions you had ever seen to a semi-decent restaurant.

"Ha-ha, very funny. Why don't we stay here. I can cook dinner," Han suggested. "It's the most cost-effective of the plans."

Chewie shook his head and told Han that they needed to get more supplies. It would probably be best if they did go out to some restaurant to eat since they needed to go out.

"You're right," Han admitted. "But, no matter what you say, I'm not going anywhere near the Jedi Temple. I know you have friends there, but I have a bad feeling about one of them and the nagging feeling that another owes me money."

Chewie laughed. He told Han that it was probably just memories of the future that could have been which was causing it, not the current time. Besides, if he got a feeling that they should go to Tatooine, would he?

"No, Chewie. I'm not going there unless I absolutely have to. Besides, we did tell Jabba that we'd be taking some time off, so I intend to make the most of the vacation that we have."

Except for the job, Chewie mentioned.

"Sh. I'm having delusions of grandeur. Leave me to my own devices."

Chewie laughed again and commented that leaving Han to his own devices would be dangerous to himself and others.

* * *

Leia had a foreboding feeling which caused her to shiver. Teneniel looked at her. "Have a bad feeling?" she asked. 

Leia nodded. "Yeah. I don't know quite what it is, though. I mean, besides the whole diary issue. I also feel like I'm forgetting something."

Allya's eyes widened. "Isn't it your birthday?"

"Oh. It is," Leia realized without surprise. "Mom forgot, too, 'cause she said I could stay when I called. She probably wouldn't have wanted me to if she had remembered." Leia sighed. "Everything feels like there's something wrong, something missing."

"The Force is probably telling you something, Leia. Your dad is the strongest Jedi that has ever lived, so it would be a little strange if you weren't Force-sensitive," Teneniel declared. "Speaking of which, do you know why you weren't put in the Jedi Order?"

"Teneniel!" Tionne exclaimed. "We have no right to ask that! It's probably a personal matter to her!"

Leia smiled ad shook her head. "I actually don't know. As far as I can tell, my mom wanted me to become a Senator like her, and my dad didn't want me to become a Jedi."

Allya laughed. "That sounds nothing like the Anakin we know."

"If you really do have great potential in the Force, then the Council would have insisted that you be taken into the Order," Teneniel replied.

"Then what if that rumor is actually true?" Leia suggested. "If I did have a brother, then he would have gone into the Order while I went into politics."

"Or the Council would have just respected your father's wishes. Besides, if that outlandish rumor did indeed have some veracity, then why would your brother's identity be hidden from you? It just makes no sense," Tionne argued.

"Her opinion makes the most sense," noted Kendalina, the oldest one in the room. She was a Jedi Knight in her early twenties but had always been a friend of Tionne, and since she had been in town, she had decided to go to the party. After a moment of silence, she spoke again. "I wonder if Ranik, Callista, and DW caught up with Obi, Ani, and Adi."

"Master Solusar was chasing them, too?" Allya asked, rather surprised. "How did that come about? I thought he was on vacation?"

"No, he just came back," Kendalina corrected. "I was actually there when Ranik blew a gasket about all of the hoi-broth concentrate which was piled in the containers that the coffee was supposed to be filled with. He then sprinted down the hall, looking for Callista and DW since all of the Sprite was gone."

"Why would the missing Sprite be important?" Leia asked, somewhat confused by the inciting incident of the entire escapade.

Kendalina smiled. "Let's just say DW and Callista love their lemon-lime soft drinks."

* * *

At the Seventh Paradise, the Rogues and Jedi apprentices had been seated in a booth and were currently waiting for the waiter to bring them their drinks. Mara, who was a little annoyed, couldn't believe that Corran and Kyle had actually made her dress up because of Luke. She had to admit, however, that she understood why (and maybe even agreed with their rationale a little bit), but they could have at least filled her in! 

Mara glared at the idiot sitting to her right. Corran and the rest of the Rogues (sans Luke) had planned yet another stupid move: they arranged it so she was sitting next to Luke. Unfortunately, the only person close enough to her to strangle out of that group was Corran, but he was actually useful sometimes, so she restrained herself from doing so. Mara reflected that it was almost as if they were trying to get her and Luke together. _What am I thinking?_ she thought, angry at herself. _You're imagining things, Mara. Just because it seems to be that way doesn't mean that it is. Luke probably doesn't like me anyway. Hell, half the time, he calls me by my last name._

"Say," Wes said. "Jade, didn't you say something about a friend of yours that---"

"You don't want Teneniel to be your girlfriend," Corran cut him off. "She's from the planet Dathomir."

Wes stared at him. "And that means what?"

From next to Wes, Kyle replied. "How shall I put this?" He asked, mockingly, before answering his own question in a deadpan. "I know. It's a planet of crazy Force witches who ride rancors for fun."

"Ah. Forget I asked."

"Teneniel's not _that_ weird, Kyle," Luke said. "She's a pretty nice person when you get to know her."

"Do you have to hit on every woman you meet, Wes?" Tycho asked.

"Hey! You have no right to say anything! You have a girlfriend back on Alderaan," Wes said in his own defense.

"We shouldn't be arguing, guys," Wedge mentioned. _Are Luke and I the only sane ones at this table? _he thought. _Well, Miss Jade seems all right, too._

"Could we talk about something else?" Hobbie asked.

"Good idea!" Tycho exclaimed, apparently already having an alternative topic in mind. "Did you know that the Princess just became the youngest person to be elected to the Senate?"

"Are we talking about the Princess of Alderaan?" Mara asked, a little confused.

"Yes," Luke replied hesitantly. "Tycho's from Alderaan."

_Is he embarrassed about something? _Mara wondered. _Not that I care_, she hastily added to herself.

"And he talks about her all of the time," Wedge added.

"I do not!" Tycho protested as the waiter came back with everyone's drinks. After taking everyone's orders, the waiter departed again.

"What were we talking about, again?" Wes asked.

"That one movie that came out recently," Mara suggested, knowing that wasn't the real topic.

"That one about the archaeologist and the box with the stone slabs in it?" Hobbie suggested. "Or was it the one with the temple of doom?" he amended.

"I think it was the box one. The temple one came before it," Tycho added.

"No! It was the one with the cup thing!" Wes exclaimed. "Those two came before it."

The Rogues continued talking about the movies with Kyle adding something every so often. Even though he atmosphere was so bright and happy, Mara felt left out. _I shouldn't be here; I should have just stayed back at the Temple..._ "'Scuse me, guys, I'll be right back. I'm going outside for some fresh air," Mara said with a fake smile and walked out.

"That was different," Corran commented. "Do you think there's something wrong?"

"Yeah. Mara's never that polite," Kyle declared.

"I'm going to go talk to her," Luke said and was about to get up, but Wedge and Corran kept him in place. "You guys!"

"You're not going anywhere until a few questions are answered," Wes stated.

"Corran! Wedge! Let me go!"

"First of all, _is_ there something going on between you two? Second, if there isn't, do you like her?"

Luke turned bright red. "No!" he exclaimed. "What makes you think that!"

"Besides the fact that you're so completely denying it?" Kyle asked. "You're also blushing. That's another sign."

"Leave me alone," Luke said impassively, staring at the Coke he was drinking. "There isn't anything going on. She doesn't even like me."

"Right. If that's true, then you're the son of a Dark Lord of the Sith," Kyle said, trying to emphasize just how wrong Luke was.

"That's probably true, with my luck," Luke replied bitterly.

"Luke, cheer up You're not supposed to be this depressed on your sixteenth birthday," Wedge said.

"There's something else wrong, isn't there?" Corran realized.

"Yeah. There is." For a moment, Luke laughed somewhat bitterly. "I'm such an idiot! Why should I care what An---" He stopped himself and was silent for a moment before sighing and apologizing. "I'm sorry, you guys. I... I shouldn't be like this. I'm sorry..."

Corran stared at Luke. _Apparently Master not talking to him today really hurt Luke's feelings. Of course, it does make sense, seeing as---No. I'm not supposed to know that. I'm not allowed to know_, Corran thought before putting on a smile and replying, "Don't worry. It's probably just pressure. We are going to have exams next week."

"You know that's not it," Luke murmured.

"Forget your cares for the time being!" Wes demanded, doing his best to lighten the situation. "Your best friends are throwing you a party, so you should be happy, dammit!"

"Wes is right," Hobbie said, smiling. "You really do need to lighten up, at least for the time being."

"After all, you don't want Wes to act like a crazed fighter pilot, do you?" Corran added. "I mean, that would just be disturbing."

"Yeah. Wes a fighter pilot," Wedge remarked. "The enemy would run away in fear."

Luke smiled. "Thanks guys. I really appreciate it." He paused. "Wes, if you swear not to say anything, I'll answer your question."

"What question?" Wes asked, feigning ignorance. "Ah hell, why not? I'll probably remember, so I swear I won't tell anyone except those sitting at the table."

"Then yes, I do like her."

"Ha! I knew it!" Wes exclaimed.

"You do know that he'll probably try to get you two together now?" Wedge commented.

"Crap. I forgot about that," Luke said, realizing the follow of admitting what he just had in front of not just Wes, but Corran and Kyle. Teneniel would learn by the time they got back to the Temple, and then she'd tell all of the girls at the party, and they'd tell the rest of the class.

Wes looked at Wedge like the latter was crazed. "Are you insane? She's practically homicidal! I wouldn't try to do that if you paid me!" he said, not meaning any of it: once Luke went out to bring Mara back inside, they'd plot.

"She's not that bad," Corran said, knowing what Wes was thinking (without using the Force). "She'd maim, not kill: death is too permanent."

* * *

Mara was standing outside and leaning on the railing of the balcony of the restaurant overlooking the city. The sun was setting, and the sky looked like someone dumped all of their yellow and red paint on it and mixed it in with the night sky. She knew that somehow the topic of conversation had turned from movies to her once she had come out here, but she didn't care. It was better she was here and not in there. They could be themselves. After a few minutes, she heard someone walk over to her. _It's probably Sky---Luke. (Stupid sunset, making me think Skywalker's his last name) He's the type to worry about others more than himself._ "Why'd you let me come along?" she asked him. 

"How did you know it was me?" Luke asked once he was standing next to her.

"Because who else would it be? You still need to answer my question," Mara said, still looking at the sunset.

"I don't know... I couldn't really say no, could I?" he answered.

"You're too nice for your own good, Luke," Mara decided. "It'll get you in trouble some day if you're not careful."

"You're right. It probably will..." Luke smiled. "The sunset's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Don't get sappy on me, Skywalker. Let's go back in," Mara said, not realizing what she had called him, and started to walk back. "Well? Aren't you coming?"

Luke blinked. "Well, yeah---" He didn't have time finish because Mara walked back over and dragged him back inside. _Did she just call me "Skywalker"?_

* * *

After dark, Leia had decided to wander the halls of the Jedi Temple when Teneniel had decided that her father was probably roaming the halls again. Leia smiled. There was no doubt he probably thought that he was in deep trouble when he realized it was her birthday today. She looked up from where she was. "Oh, no! I'm lost. Again!" she groaned. After going down a few more hallways, she felt even more lost in the labyrinthine corridors. As she paused, someone tapped her on the shoulder, causing Leia to jump a good few inches. She turned around and saw a boy about her age. He was a little taller than her and looked familiar, sort of like her father. 

"Sorry!" he apologized. "I didn't mean to startle you. It's just that you look a little lost."

Leia blinked. _Am I imagining things?_ "Uh, yeah. I just went for a walk around here. I was looking for someone, but I don't know how to get back to where I'm staying..."

The young man smiled. "I could take you back. Where are you trying to go?"

"Um. I was just with Teneniel at Tionne's party," Leia replied.

"Oh. Teneniel. Why did it have to be her?" he grumbled. "Why couldn't it have been someone sane, like Kirana Ti?"

"You don't get along with Teneniel very well?" Leia asked

The teenager laughed warmly. "No, she just plays video games all night, every night. My room's right next door to hers. The noise keeps me up at night."

Maybe she shouldn't make him take her near Teneniel. Leia knew she'd get a mouthful about whoever the helpful Jedi was. "Actually, you wouldn't happen to know where Anakin Skywalker is, would you?" Leia asked.

The boy looked surprised. "I was actually just looking for him. We could look together if you wanted."

Leia smiled. "No, thank you. I'd rather talk to him alone. Thanks for your offer, though."

"It's nothing," he replied.

A thought struck Leia's mind. The guy seemed trustworthy enough. He was a Jedi, after all. "Hey, would you be interested in helping me with something? I sort of would like a Jedi to accompany me somewhere tomorrow."

"I'm no Jedi," he replied. "I'm just an apprentice, but my day off is tomorrow..."

"Even better. Please help me?" Leia asked.

He paused to think about it. Finally, he answered, "Yes. I'll help. What, may I ask, are we going to be doing?"

Leia grinned. "Meeting with a smuggler."

* * *

Once back at Tionne's room, Mara discovered that all those present were staring at her. Mara amended her thinking: they weren't staring at her; they were staring at her in a pink dress. Apparently Kirana and Kendalina had shown up in the meantime. Now Adi was going to know she actually wore a dress of her own free will (sort of: it had been the only way to save Kyle from his own stupidity). 

"Guess what we're playing!" Leia exclaimed.

Mara decided that Leia looked like she had just returned from somewhere else as well. Then she realized what they were playing. Mara's eyes widened. "No! I shouldn't have come back! I still need to go tell Master Skywalker---"

"I found him," Leia said. "Daddy apologized profusely and begged me not to tell Mom. I told him I'd think about it."

As Mara desperately searched her mind for an excuse to leave, Teneniel said, "You promised, Mara. You have to stay, and it's my turn." Allya got up and shut the door behind Mara, who glared at the Dathomirans. Teneniel smiled like a cat. "Mara, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Mara replied. If she said dare, then Mara would be at the mercy of Teneniel's overactive imagination.

"Why are you in that dress?"

Mara blanched. "I'm using my pass," she replied before thinking, _Now you've done it, Jade! If they ask you about Luke you have to answer! And if you answer falsely, they'll know!_ she said to herself.

"Psst, Mara, it's your turn," Kirana said.

Mara looked around the room. Who was to be her victim? Leia? _No. Too much Anakin Skywalker involved._ Allya? _Don't want to know what's in her head._ Tionne? _Too nice._ Kirana? _Nothing against her._ Kendalina? _Jedi Princess, enough said._ Teneniel? _Perfect._ "Teneniel... Truth or Dare?"

Teneniel grinned. "Mara, you can't ask me, it's against the rules. I asked you."

Mara glared and looked around the room again. Allya worked. "Allya, Truth or Dare?"

Allya grinned like an idiot and replied. "Dare!"

"Go declare your undying love for Kyle to him."

Allya gasped and narrowed her eyes at Mara. "This, as you know, means war," she spat as she walked out of the room. Ten minutes later, Allya came back with an amused look on her face. "I have no clue why I like that man. He's either deaf or as oblivious as one of his roommates. Kyle just sort of stared at me. He didn't move. He just stared."

"See? It wasn't that bad!" Mara said.

Allya stared at her. "Hypocrite." Allya looked around the room for her victim. "Leia... Truth or dare?"

Leia was unsure of what to do. "Uh... Truth?"

Allya smiled. She wasn't going to be mean. "What's your ideal guy like?"

Leia blinked. "Um... He has to have a sense of humor. It would be nice if he could fight. I'd also like him to be a pilot with his own space ship. Not too cocky, not too uptight, either. He'd also have to love me for who I was, not who I was related to or my position."

"Not too picky, aren't we?" Kendalina said jokingly.

Leia smiled. "The last one is the most important..."

"It's interesting how you don't care what he looks like," Teneniel said. "Or do you have a picture in your head of what he should look like?"

Shrugging, Leia replied, "I've never really thought about it... Is it my turn now?" Allya nodded. Leia decided who to pick. "Mara. Truth or Dare?"

Mara was relieved that Leia was the one that had picked her. "Truth."

"Do you like Obi-Wan Kenobi's apprentice?" Leia asked. The question had been irritating her all night. She had to know.

Mara stared at her. "What?"

"You heard her," Teneniel replied.

Mara glared at Teneniel, then stared at Leia again. "Um. Can't I pass?"

"No," the rest of the people in the room replied.

"Unless you tell us about the dress, that is," Kendalina replied.

"Fine." Mara sighed. "Yes. I do like him."

"I knew it!" Teneniel exclaimed.

"And I got it on tape!" Allya said, brandishing a voice recorder. Mara made a grab for it, but Allya tossed it to Teneniel before Mara could snatch it away.

"We're not going to tell anyone, Mara," Teneniel said. "Just Corran. He'll be sure to contact everyone who would benefit from this information, such as one of his roommates."

Mara glared at Teneniel. "If you let that out... you are _so_ dead."

* * *

After he and the others had returned from the party, Luke had decided to wander the halls looking for Master Skywalker. He had probably went home already, but Luke still wanted to find him. Near the library, Luke had run into this girl who was lost. They had talked for a few minutes, but she eventually went off wandering again, most likely getting herself even more lost. While Luke was thinking about that, he ran into someone. "Ow..." both said. Luke looked up. It was Master Skywalker. 

"Luke! I was just looking for you!" Anakin exclaimed.

"Really?" Luke asked. "What for?"

Anakin grinned. "I didn't have a chance to tell you earlier: Happy birthday, Kid."

Luke smiled. "Thank you."

* * *

_Reviews: Thank you **HotaruFireFly55**, **JadeAlmasy**, **cyndur**, **sean**, and **Niraha Skywalker** for reviewing chapter 2.  
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_ Favorites: Thank you __**cyndur, **__**HotaruFireFly55**__**, Niraha Skywalker**__, **Jahiro19**, **DaydreamQueenMisha**, and **Roy-Lighten** for adding this to your favorites list.  
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_Story Alerts: Thank you **Flutie2891**,__** HotaruFireFly55**_ _**jumpforjoy**,__** Niraha Skywalker**, **Quill of Molliemon**, and **Witchy-grrl** for adding this to your story alert lists._


	4. Dark Dreams and Impending Doom

_Hey everyone! I'm finally out of summer school classes, so that means I'll update more quickly! On that subject, sorry for not updating until now... I had an old friend of mine over for the Fourth of July (she lives in a different state), and I went to go see "Batman Begins" (which was awesome), too. Yeah. Then there was the whole SAT thingy... But I should stop making excuses. Sorry this one isn't as long as the last chapter, but I don't think I could cram anything else in. You'll just have to wait for the next chapter, but that, as I said, will be out a lot more quickly than this one was. Good news: the plot finally gets going! Bad News: less teenagers in school humor for a while... I think. Don't worry, though. I'll make sure to put humor in every so often. I also have to say that I've also neglected to mention that I borrowed the idea of having Wes acting like a matchmaker from Limelight's Not Quite Love Letters, which I recommend to anyone who's a fan of the original trilogy and likes Leia/Han parings. It's a great fic. So... In conclusion of this insanely long author's note, thank you very much for reading. I really appreciate it, and I hope you will enjoy this chapter.

* * *

_

_Mara was surprised and in a dark throne room, but what surprised her wasn't that she was in the throne room, but that it felt right. Nothing had ever felt right before. She looked around and realized she was in a dream. "No..." she said. "Not again... Why are the dreams back?" Mara backed up as far as she could and was stopped by railing. The doors of the turbolift next to her suddenly opened. Two people stepped out. The chair near the windows---No. Those were viewports---slowly turned around. A shadowy figure sat in it. Mara watched as the two red guards which she hadn't noticed before boarded the lift and departed. She turned her attention back to the chair and the two who had exited the lift. Mara noticed that one of them had binders on his hands. "A prisoner, then," she noted, knowing that no one ever heard her in the dreams. But this time, someone answered._

_"Yes, he is," a woman said from the shadows nearest Mara. She stepped out of the shadows, and Mara's eyes widened in amazement._

_"You---you look just like me!" she exclaimed._

_The doppleganger smiled. "Of course I do. I am you, except that I live in the reality you see in your dreams. No one from where I'm from ever dreams about your reality." She paused and amended her statement. "Well, some might, but we never remember it."_

_Mara just accepted the information. Weirder things **had** happened in the dreams before (specifically, there was this one dream where there was an incident with an annoying hacker and some hotshot son of a duke. But that was another story). "Do you know what's going on, then?" she asked._

_Her older, alternate-reality self nodded. "Yes. I was lied to about this battle, you know. I was told that---Maybe it's better if you don't know about that." She pointed to the tall man (or was he a machine?) in armor. "That is the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. Some called him more machine than man. If had truly acted like a machine, then he wouldn't have ever been a Sith in the first place. Apathy makes the dark side useless."_

_"He used to be a Jedi?" Mara asked. "Was he powerful?"_

_Her older self glared at the Dark Lord. "That was the only reason he was recruited. He was the most powerful of the Jedi, or so I've been told. The Yoda from your reality seems to be even more ambiguous about things than the one from mine. I never met the Yoda from my reality, but I've heard stories"_

_Mara watched the shadow in the chair talk to the Dark Lord and the prisoner. The binders had long since been discarded. The prisoner barely seemed to be controlling his anger. Mara looked at the one called Vader then turned to her other self. "Who is the prisoner? ...Is he a Jedi? Or a potential Sith?"_

_Her other self shook her head. "He's both. The Emperor wanted to turn him, but his damn Jedi optimism and faith in his friends kept him from turning."_

_"You lie. He seems resigned to his fate, which seems to be death if this Emperor of yours is Sith as well as Vader," Mara shot back._

_"Nicely played. You're right you know, he was ready to die. He rarely ever talks about what actually transpired here. He gives vague details, but almost never does he tell the whole story." The other smiled. "And you are right that something else stopped him..."_

_"You know the Jedi?" Mara asked, then exclaimed, "Wait! He **survived**!"_

_"Yes, on both counts. You probably know your reality's version of him. Knowing him, he probably acts exactly the same. Of course, you probably know exactly whom he is. I mean, who else could he possibly be? Some idiot Jedi who survived the Jedi Purges and was stupid enough to get caught by these two? No, it's the idiot Jedi who was stupid enough to turn himself in to these two." She looked at her chrono. "Oh, look. The fight's about to start. We'll probably get a visitor soon, too. All we can do at the moment, however, is sit back and watch."_

_Mara stared at her older self, whose sanity she was beginning to doubt, before turning back to watch the apparently impeding fight. Mara watched as the scene proceeded with absolutely no sound. It was like some supreme being had hit the mute button on life. But then it changed. The one she had dubbed the Shadow spoke._

_"Strike me down with all of your hatred, and your journey toward the dark side will be complete," the Shadow said to the Jedi. Mara noted the irony of how the good guy was wearing black like the other two. At least he didn't look as menacing._

_While Mara thought that, the Jedi finally retrieved his lightsaber and tried to destroy the shadow. Vader, however, blocked the attack. The battle then began in earnest, and Mara finally had the opportunity to see whom the Jedi was since he didn't have his back turned to her anymore. Unfortunately, Mara wasn't able to tell because of the lack of light. At that moment, another dreamer entered the equation. He remained unnoticed by the combatants and the Shadow but didn't notice either Mara._

_"What kind of idiot builds a space station without proper lighting?" the third of the intruders murmured. That comment set the elder Mara off in a fit of bitter laughter, and Mara realized whom the third was: Anakin Skywalker. He looked about fifteen years younger, at least. But why was he there?_

_Mara turned her attention back to the Jedi and Sith locked in mortal combat. Vader, as per Sith rules and regulations, had a blood red lightsaber. It created a ghastly effect, but that was offset by the brilliant green blade of the Jedi. Mara still didn't have a good view of his face and still couldn't tell whom he was._

_Anakin almost sprinted towards the Shadow, drew his lightsaber, and tried to slay the Shadow. Surprisingly, he failed. Mara wondered why. The saber had gone straight through the Shadow. She turned to the older version of herself. "Why didn't the Shadow die? Why didn't Master Skywalker's blow kill him?"_

_"Vader's attack didn't kill Palpatine because that version of him isn't really here, and therefore, he, like us, cannot possibly change events," the older woman explained. "Now watch this."_

_Mara turned back as the Jedi jumped up onto the scaffolding overhead. Mara finally got a good look at him and was stunned. "I will not fight you, Father," the younger-than-Mara-had-expected and strangely familiar Jedi told Vader. Mara suddenly recalled what her other self had said: Vader and Anakin Skywalker were the same person. She turned to look at Anakin, who was stunned as well._

_"He's here for a different reason, Mara," her older self said, breaking her out of the reverie inside her dream. "You are here because you have to be told about the Emperor's base at Byss. Palpatine was a paranoid old man and as such, had many contingency plans in case he wasn't able to win over either Skywalker to his side."_

_"Byss? Where's that?" Mara asked, only half-listening._

_"It's a system in the Core where Palpatine stashed some Spaarti cylinders to clone himself. If the old codger had set it up, then you and the rest of the galaxy might have to worry about him again." She gestured to the Shadow, whom Mara suddenly realized was Palpatine, the Emperor that her older self had been referring to. "I personally never really believed that Palpatine came back, but I think it's a good idea to warn you, just in case."_

_Mara turned back to the fight. It was obviously nearing the finale. "Thank you. I'll be sure to tell everyone..." she murmured as she watched the fight wind down. The Jedi, Anakin's **son**, suddenly hid under the stairs for some reason. The world was put on mute again as the Dark Lord and Jedi Knight talked with the Emperor watching. The tides then turned. Vader had said something which had caused the Jedi to attack furiously. Apparently the young man had inherited the infamous propensity toward anger from his father. The fight then ended: Vader's hand was cut off. "He killed his father...?"_

_Older Mara shook her head. "No. Listen."_

_The Jedi tossed his lightsaber away. Mara almost wished she could make it fly into Palpatine's face. That would be amusing. After taking a breath, the Jedi turned to Palpatine. "I will not turn. I am a Jedi, like my father before me," he declared._

_Palpatine growled, "So be it, Jedi," and the dream-Anakin disappeared._

_"Time for me to go," the alternate reality version of Mara said. "Good luck, Jade. Don't make any stupid mistakes, like letting a guy go for ten years before you even entertain the notion of going out with him. Trust me, it's pretty stupid. So don't do it." After saying the last word, she too faded away._

_Mara turned her complete attention back to the two Sith and the Jedi. Palpatine was using Force-lightning on the Jedi. Mara felt sick watching the spectacle. She wanted to stop the monster which was causing all of the pain: the pain of the Jedi, the pain of those fighting in space, the pain of those on Endor, her pain from having to watch. "No! Make it stop!" she screamed, but the dream still wouldn't release her---she was being forced to watch the Jedi writhe in agony on the cold deck as Palpatine was laughing while killing him._

_"And now, young Skywalker, you will die," Palpatine cackled as Mara watched in horror as the power of the lightning increased dramatically. Vader was now standing by his master's side. Mara wanted to hit him, in the very least._

_"Father... please!" the Jedi pleaded to Vader before finally giving in to the barrage of energy and fading fast into unconsciousness. Mara rushed over, wanting to at least try to do something, but when she got there, all she could do was stare at the young man. His face was scarred and he looked a few years older, but Mara finally knew whom he was._

* * *

"Luke!" Mara shouted as she woke up. She was still in Tionne's room. It was the dead of night, but she was where she should have been. There was no Empire, Vader was still Anakin Skywalker, and Palpatine was dead and gone. The Sith didn't exist anymore. They were finally extinct. Mara caught her breath and realized everyone in the room was staring at her. _Of course they are, I just shouted out the name of the one guy I like in a room mostly full of teenage girls_, Mara told herself. 

Teneniel, instead of making a snide remark, put on a concerned face. "Dreams bothering you again?" she asked, genuinely interested in her friend's well being. "Which one was it this time? The fight with that whacked out clone of C'baoth?"

Mara shook her head. "No. Fight above that one planet... Endor. Sith, two of them."

"What does it have to do with Luke?" Leia asked. She had no clue whom he was, but maybe Mara would feel better about the nightmare. _Knowledge is power,_ she thought.

"He fought with the Sith... he was dying. Palpatine was killing him with Force-lightning. Vader wasn't doing anything... That damn Sith was just standing there as his son was being murdered!" Mara exclaimed. She remembered what her other self had said. More softly, she continued, "...There's something on Byss..."

Leia's eyes flashed in recognition. "So I wasn't imagining things..." She shuddered. "He's back. That monster's back..."

"Who's back?" Teneniel asked. She was pretty sure she wouldn't get an answer. Mara looked ready to murder someone, and Leia was radiating anger and outrage as well. Apparently this was someone pretty important---and ruthless. Somewhere in Teneniel's mind, a switch turned on. She realized whom the two hated and feared: the Emperor. Whoever that really was.

Kendalina glanced at the two girls. "It's the one who would have been Emperor, isn't it? Tell the truth. He's back, isn't he?"

"The Force needs to be balanced," Tionne mentioned.

Mara thought about her nightmare. Anakin Skywalker had been a Dark Lord of the Sith. If that was how the Force was supposed to have been balanced, then... "Maybe we would be better off if it wasn't..."

* * *

When Han woke up the next morning, he decided it probably would be better to stay in bed. When he had found Chewie and went to the cantina situated in the middle levels of Coruscant near the Senate building, he had decided that the day was going pretty well. When his potential employer walked into the cantina with what appeared to be a Jedi bodyguard, Han just knew he should have stayed in bed today. _At least Chewie's around. If anything goes wrong, he's just a table away, and no one's stupid enough to mess with a Wookie_, he reflected. Han studied the appearances of the two as they approached the table. The shorter of the two walked around like he owned the place, sort of like royalty or something. The taller one, who couldn't have been much past five and a half feet tall, was blatantly nervous, which wasn't an emotion Han associated with Jedi. Han took a drink from the Corellian ale he'd ordered as the two sat down at the table. 

"You are Han Solo, correct?" the shorter one asked. Apparently, that one was actually a girl, so her petite build now made sense.

"Yeah," Han replied. "And what of it?" The kid on the left was still nervous. Great. Two most likely naïve kids were hiring him. Wonderful.

"I contacted you earlier," the girl said. She had something that was a cross between an Alderaanian and Coruscantian accent. Aristocratic, without a doubt. No wonder the job was paying so much. "About a job. I promised fifty thousand credits. Is this still acceptable?" she asked, pretty sure that it would be.

Han scoffed, noting the kid was staring at the girl in disbelief. Then again, Han had stared at the message for a good amount of time before replying. It had seemed too good to be true. Still did. "Of course it is. That's a whole hell of a lot of money, but it does also depend on what the job is."

"Good. I would like passage off planet as quickly as possible with no criminal entanglements. There are bounties out there for me, and I'd like to get off without anyone noticing," the girl told Han. The kid next to her was still stunned at her actions. Maybe he was her bodyguard? _No_, thought Han. _That doesn't seem right. They look like they're around the same age, so maybe they're friends or something. He also looks like he has absolutely no clue what she was going to say._

"Look here, sweetheart, in case you haven't noticed, I'm a criminal myself," Han said, getting a confused look from the kid and causing the girl to roll her eyes. "If you're willing to get over that, then I'm at your service. Where exactly were you planning on running off to?"

"It's not like I'm running away," the girl shot back. She was a little peeved about the "sweetheart" remark, then. "I haven't yet decided upon a planet to travel to, so---"

"How about Myrkr?" Han suggested, trying to at least get some sort of response from the kid who had been silent the entire time. Time to see if he really was a Jedi.

"No!" the kid exclaimed, turning to the girl. "That's a bad idea, Lei---" The girl elbowed him in the side, shutting him up.

"No thanks, Solo," the girl (Lei-something) replied. "I was thinking about a destination that would be a little less full of scoundrels."

"So you'd prefer some place more out of the way?" Han said. He noticed that she looked Nubian. And her name started with "Lei"? Interesting. "How about Naboo or Alderaan? They're nice, peaceful planets."

The girl stiffened, and Han knew he was right about her trying to run away as he had thought. "No. I want to go somewhere that isn't mentioned in the news every twenty minutes, Solo. Somewhere out of the way."

Han grinned. Time to mess with them even more. "How about Tatooine, then? It's nice-ish if you're really desperate to get away, but I'd suggest that you stay away from Jabba. He has a thing for nice girls." That comment obviously riled the lass up, but it annoyed the kid even more.

"That's the absolute worst idea I've ever heard!" the kid exclaimed. "Heck, if there was a bright center of the universe, Tatooine's the planet that it's farthest from. I've heard that some of the larger cities are, to quote someone, 'wretched hives of scum and villainy.'"

The girl shook her head. "Tatooine's the absolute worst place for me to go. My father'd be pretty angry if he found out I went there," she said before warning Han, "He'd probably track you down and kill you if that happened."

"There's also Corellia," Han said. "It's a nice place, if I do say so myself. There's also this other planet I once won in a card game. I felt sorta cheated by the whole thing since I ended up being allergic to the planet, so I gave the deed to some leader on the planet. It's called Dathomir---"

Both the girl and the kid blurted out, "No!"

"Okay. Not there then. The place sorta creeped me out, too," Han admitted. This meant that they knew people from Dathomir, then. The only Dathomirans who went off planet left to be trained by the Jedi. So that cemented the fact that the kid was really a Jedi.

The girl stared at the table. Han realized that she really hadn't thought her plans through that much. She then murmured, "Do you know about the Rebels?"

Han was a little surprised that the girl knew about that group. It was said to be funded by some of the Senators who thought that the elimination of the corruption in the Senate was too slow. Some said it was a back-up plan in case the Sith ever rose again. Not that Han **believed** in the Sith. In fact, Han didn't really believe in the Force, either, but that was beside the point. The Rebels operated in the shadows, but some said that they were actually doing good. After all, all of the Separatists hadn't been caught. "Yeah," Han finally replied. "I know of them."

The girl smiled. "Good. I know where I'm going, then. When should I meet back up with you?"

Han was stunned. This girl was thinking of joining the Rebels? _Whatever floats her boat._ "It really depends on you. When would you like to leave, Miss...?"

The girl's face went blank, signaling to Han that she was searching for an alias. "Organa, Leia Organa," she replied. "Um, I'd actually like to leave as soon as possible."

Han grinned. He and Chewie had really hit the jackpot this time. The Princess of Alderaan. Damn, he was going to get paid well. "All right, Your Highness. The _Falcon_'s parked at docking bay ninety-four hundred near the Senate Plaza. I can get 'er ready in about an hour."

The Princess nodded curtly. "Good. I'll be there. I'll pay you when we get to our destination, Captain." She stood up with the Jedi shortly following her, and they left. Han was glad he'd decided to get up this morning.

* * *

Both Luke and Leia were silent during the speeder ride to Leia's apartment building. When they arrived, Leia walked into the building. Luke couldn't believe her. She was leaving Coruscant to join the _Rebels_! Luke decided that he should think she was insane, but he felt himself agreeing with her. The outlawed vigilantes called the Rebels claimed to protect the galaxy and the Republic from the Sith, corruption, and a group known as the Empire. Most believed that the Empire was a splinter group of the Separatists known as the Neo-Separatists. Unlike their Clone Wars counterparts, the Neo-Separatists were mostly made of humans and after seven or so years were still not deemed a threat to the Republic. The Rebels were seen as more of a threat than the Empire. 

Waiting in Master Skywalker's speeder outside of the building for Leia, Luke started to wonder if he should go with her. It seemed like the right thing to do, but he wasn't quite sure why. Maybe the Force was trying to say something? Luke sighed and stared at the sky. He felt like running away with the Princess and smuggler to join the Rebellion, but what would Obi-Wan say when he found out? Who knew. The Rogues, however, would probably rush off to join him. They all wanted to be fighter pilots anyway, and the Rebels took whatever recruits they could. That wasn't to say that the Rogues couldn't fly. No, they were probably better than the normal fighter pilots in the normal Republic military.

Hypothetically, if Luke did decide to go with her, would Leia allow him to do so? The Jedi hadn't expressed any interest in the conflict between the two groups, and they were in the control of the Senate, who thought that the Rebels were the bad guys. The thought then entered Luke's mind that maybe Leia wasn't even going to tell her parents she was leaving. Maybe it was better if they didn't know. Didn't Tycho say she was the youngest Senator ever elected? If she ran off, that would mean shirking her duties, and the action didn't seem very much like Leia. Laughing at himself, Luke reflected that he shouldn't be making judgments like that on people he hardly knew. He just had a feeling, though.

Luke paused. What about everyone back at the Jedi Temple? Shouldn't he tell someone that he was leaving? Like Corran? Well, maybe not Corran, but it didn't feel right just up and leaving. Luke groaned. Why was everything so complicated? Why couldn't he just have had a simple life somewhere, like Tatooine? Then he could get a job as a pilot easily. He wasn't half bad at piloting. There were many chances outside of Coruscant to get recruited for the space navy, and the crime lords always needed pilots, especially for smuggling. Luke wondered if Han worked for such a crime lord. Maybe, if he did, it was a Hutt or something. But back to the Jedi. What about Master Skywalker? Luke felt really bad about not telling him where he was going, but he knew that the Jedi Master would be more likely to try to keep Luke from leaving than Obi-Wan would be. Of course, if Luke left without telling anyone, Obi-Wan would probably be trying to find him for days, and who knew if the Rebels would let him write a letter back to everyone telling them what had happened. Assuming he went at all.

As Luke continued his musings, Leia jumped out of the turbolift from her apartment. She had only one suitcase and a small one at that. She was rather surprised to see that Luke was still there, but she was also glad he was. After lugging the suitcase over, she flung it in the back seat, which snapped Luke out of his reverie. "You're back," he stated.

"Yes, I'm back," Leia replied. "My question is why are you still here?" she asked as she got into the speeder.

As Luke started the vehicle, he hesitantly replied, "I, uh, I've always wanted to do something to help the galaxy, but the Jedi are being used less and less by the Senate. Contrary to what the Senate and Jedi Council think, the Empire is an immediate threat threat to the Republic. So I want to help the Rebellion. I... I want to be a starfighter pilot."

Leia giggled as they headed towards their destination. "You sound like---" _my dad. Maybe I shouldn't call him that. I don't want anyone to break my cover. _"---a friend of my mother's. He hates politics and is fed up with how the bureaucracy has been handling the whole Rebellion/Empire situation. Like you, though, he always wanted to be a pilot, and he was... but now he's stuck with a desk job."

"Poor guy. I'd hate to get the job then have to give it up..." Luke sympathized.

Leia smiled confidently. "Luke, I'm sure the Rebellion would be overjoyed to have a Jedi among its ranks. Another diplomat, however, I'm not so sure about."

"As I said before, I'm no Jedi. I'm just an apprentice... though my Master, among other Council Members, thinks that maybe I should go through the Trials soon," Luke admitted. He hadn't said anything about that to anyone, not even Corran or Wedge. "I don't understand why they think I'm ready. It's highly unusual... but a friend of mine says that I learned some technique I learned in a few minutes normally takes years to master. It's like that with all of the techniques. He's on the Council, and I suspect that he's the one that lobbied for me to go through with the Trials..."

"Your friend's on the Council?" Leia repeated, surprised. "Who is he?" _I might know of him_, she thought.

"Er... He's more of a father-figure, I guess... but he's Master Skywalker."

"Oh." That was even more surprising to Leia. On to more important business. Like pseudonyms. "Luke... I'm just wondering, but what's your last name?"

"I don't know," Luke replied. "I just don't know. No one's ever told me what it was..." _Mara did call me 'Skywalker' yesterday, but that was just a psychological slip or something... of course, if that's true, then she probably hates me._

"Well, we're not going to have to give you a fake last name, then!" Leia said happily.

"Even worse: we're going to have to make one up..." Luke sighed.

"Cheer up!" Leia exclaimed. "Look, you are going to need a last name, so we should just figure one out now. I mean, Captain Solo'll probably want to know your name."

Luke laughed derisively. "Right. Like I'd tell him," he trailed off, feeling a little melancholy. "That's not to say I don't trust him, 'cause I sorta do for some strange reason."

Leia smiled and nodded. "I feel the same way, but don't tell him I said that."

"You're secret's safe, Princess." Luke smiled, and Leia was reminded of how much he reminded her of her father.

"Luke?" Leia said. "How about borrowing D---Anakin Skywalker's last name?"

Luke shook his head. "No. I couldn't do that. People would think that---"

"So what?" Leia blurted out. "You look enough like him, and you did say he was like a father to you. Besides, I think it fits you." Leia's mouth had been running faster than her brain, but she realized that she did mean exactly what she said.

"'Luke Skywalker.' That sounds like the name of a hero, not a runaway Jedi," Luke criticized. After a few seconds of silence, he added, "I'm so going to be kicked out of the Order for this. I'm probably breaking so many rules..." _Such as borrowing Master Skywalker's speeder without permission..._

Leia shrugged. "Sometimes you have to break the rules, you know. My mom's friend says they're more like guidelines, anyway."

"Except for the one about not turning to the Dark Side," Luke mentioned.

"Yeah," Leia admitted thoughtfully. "He says that's one of the few rules actually worth listening to. He also says that there's a really good reason for it, too."

"There is," Luke replied, trying to dismiss the sudden vision of a city in the clouds.

* * *

Far away from Coruscant, there was a planet in the Outer Rim. It was a highly volcanic moon, and it had formerly been the headquarters of the Separatists at the end of the Clone Wars. It was where there had supposed to have been a great battle between a Jedi Master and a Dark Lord of the Sith. Since the battle never happened, the moon was never discovered by the Republic: the Separatists had changed bases before they had been tracked to the lava planet. It was now the base of operations of the Empire. 

Everything was wrong. The Empire was no where near what it should have been. It officially controlled a mere two sectors, if you added all of the planets they possessed together. They should have been controlling the galaxy under Palpatine and his pet Dark Lord, who, much to the group's dismay, was still a Jedi. The Death Star should ready to be tested, not half-finished. The Maw should have been producing super weapons like there was no tomorrow, but it wasn't. Bilbringi should have been constructing the _Executor_ and _Lusankya_, but the ship yards were not working on any _Super_-class Star Destroyers. Finally, the Republic should have been nothing more than the pitiful Rebel Alliance, trying to stay alive while being chased around the galaxy at the leisure of the Grand Moffs and Admirals with the Dark Lord occasionally in tow. In short, the Empire fell drastically, if not pathetically, short of what it should have been.

In the conference room, the best and brightest military commanders and political leaders of the Empire were seated at the table, which should have had blood spattered all over it and boot marks on it from the battle between the Jedi and Sith. Alas, those too were missing. At the head of the table was Grand Moff Tarkin. The only reason he was at the head of the table was that he was in control of the development of the Death Star, therefore being the one in control. At Tarkin's left side was Admiral Zsinj, who was muttering what was most likely curse words in every language he knew. On his right was a holo-transmission of Ysanne Isard, the Empire's Head of Intelligence. She was in control of a spy network that rivaled the Bothans, even though she was only seventeen. Also present in the same form as Isard was Sage Pestage. Most of the other Grand Admirals and Grand Moffs were present as well in one form or another. The guest at the table was the Falleen Prince Xizor of the Black Sun. He was seated across from Tarkin.

Discussions about current Imperial plans and what the Black Sun could do to help the Empire gain control of the galaxy were about to start when they occupants of the room heard a pounding on the door. Ysanne Isard glanced at the screen which should have said what was outside the door. According to it, there was no one there. The pounding continued. No one moved, except for Xizor. "Shouldn't someone answer the door?" he asked. "What if it's one of your lackeys?"

Ignoring the scathing comment, Tarkin glared at the door. "Who would know we were here?" he murmured angrily to himself. "The Republic doesn't think us a threat, but what about the Jedi? They've always been the problem."

The pounding on the door became more insistent. One of the Grand Moffs was starting to get very nervous because an idea had already formed in his mind: what if Palpatine was back from the dead? It was certainly possible. "I'll go answer the door..." he said, walking over. Everyone in the room watched as he opened the door.

There was a dark figure in the doorway with another Grand Admiral and two royal guards behind him. Everyone stared in shock at the figure. They had been prepared for Palpatine returning from the dead... but not _him_. Or, should they say, them? Two more darkly shrouded figures had mysteriously appeared from behind the Royal Guards in addition to one or two of the Emperor's Hands. The most useful one was missing, of course. A bio-droid lingered at the back of the group, in the shadows.

"Surprised to see us?" the Grand Admiral with the glowing red eyes asked.

Tarkin smiled. "A little, but we are honored to have you join us. All of you."

"Soon, we will be unstoppable," Isard said, grinning evilly.

"Just as the Empire was meant to be," the Grand Admiral finished.

* * *

Half way across the galaxy, back on Coruscant, Anakin Skywalker suddenly had a very bad feeling. The Force felt more balanced, and the Hero With No Fear found that not only was fate changing, but that he was afraid. So destiny had finally caught up with them...

* * *

And so the Galactic Civil War began anew.

* * *

_**Reviews**: Thank you** JadeAlmasy** and **Jane** for reviewing chapter 3. Thank you **Yuna-flowering** for reviewing chapter 2._

_**Tinnyna**: Thank you, but the reaction you were talking about isn't going to happen for a (most likely) long while.__  
_

_**SuperBlonde**: Yes, the prequel trilogy who learned what was going to happen in the future as a result from the events in Fixing A Hole still retain that knowledge, and the people from the classic trilogy don't know, supposedly. Some of them remember things, like the Imperials (as you now know), and some, like Mara and others, have the dreams of the future. As to whether everyone will figure out what was supposed to happen, that's a secret!_

_**Lunatic Pandora1**: I'm glad you like Anakin's behavior. It was really fun writing that part. As to whether Mara knows about Anakin being Vader... She does now, but she didn't before the dream at the beginning of the chapter, hence why she was puzzled when she had almost called Anakin Vader earlier._

**_Niraha Skywalker_**_: They will figure it out eventually... With them, though, you know it's going to take a while._

_**Favorites**: Thank you__ **JadeAlmasy**__, **Elisia Kenobi, **and **Omorocco** for adding this to your favorites list._

_**Story Alert:** Thank you **JadeAlmasy**, **La'rosh**, **SuperBlonde**, and **The-Knight2000** for adding this to your story alert list._

_Again, thank you all so very much.  
_


	5. Ping Pong and Annoying Leia

_Hey again! I'm now updating more quickly! Also, I was apparently wrong about there being no more humor about Star Wars characters in high school in the fic for a while since I wrote a somewhat strange section in this chapter. Anyway, if we ignore that, I'd like to thank everyone for reading. I really, really appreciate it. I hope you like this chapter, and I'm glad to say that the plot is finally moving towards it's final, if potentially far off, goal.  
_

_

* * *

_ It was around midday. Anakin was pacing around the Jedi Council chambers, and it was starting to get on the nerves of everyone in the room. Obi-Wan had to admit he was a little nervous as well, but Anakin was practically about to snap. "Anakin, get a hold of yourself!" Obi-Wan said.

Anakin stopped pacing. "How can I? Can't you feel it? _They_ are alive, Obi-Wan... All four of _them_..."

Adi started paying attention again. "Four? But... There can only ever be two Sith... Did Palpatine not adhere to the rules of the Sith?"

Mace cleared his throat. "And even so, if you are speaking of the dead Sith coming back to life... Maul, Tyrannus, and Sidious make three, not four."

"Strange, this is," Yoda declared. "But feel another presence I do."

"Then Palpatine had to have trained another Sith shortly before his death," Eeth Koth said. "Who could it be, otherwise?"

"This is a great disturbance in the Force... We should send someone out there," Plo Koon commented.

"Maybe more than one Jedi... After all, we barely won against Palpatine and the Sith last time," Depa Billaba added.

"And that was only because we had help," Obi-Wan murmured. All of the members of the Council remembered why they had won, some in more detail than others. Obi-Wan had personally been graced with the entire story.

"Suggesting _that_ are you?" Yoda asked.

Anakin nodded. "It's not anyone our---the Jedi's side, the Light Side. The Force may have some great disturbances, but... it feels more balanced," he risked saying.

"_More_ balanced? The Force was balanced years ago! There are no more Sith," Kai-Adi-Mundi said.

The Council started debating the disturbances as Anakin sat back down and thought. _It can't be... It just can't! _Anakin told himself. He didn't believe what he was thinking, but he wanted to. How could evil travel back in time? Well, it almost wasn't back in time anymore, was it? But---Anakin halted his train of thought. Something was wrong. He tried to sense where Leia was, and realized what was wrong: she was off-planet. _If she's off-planet, then... Yep, Luke's gone, too. Crap. Padmé's going to be so angry..._

"Something wrong, Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked after they were let out of the Council meeting for a coffee break.

"Maybe. The twins left the planet."

"Really?" Obi-Wan said. "That's odd. They left at the same time, or are these two separate events?"

"Same time, same place. I have a really bad feeling about this... It's almost as bad as my feeling about the Sith," Anakin replied. "I didn't think they knew each other!"

"...Anakin, maybe it's for the better if no one knew that they were gone," Obi-Wan said. "After all, their fates probably have something to do with bringing down the Sith... and the Empire."

As Anakin was about to reply, Mara Jade suddenly ran past Obi-Wan and him, presumably looking for Adi Gallia. Anakin was about to reprimand her for running in the halls and almost running into him, but Mara's actions cut him off again since she ran back to them. "Masters, have you seen---"

"Adi went that way," Anakin replied, pointing towards the direction she was in.

Mara glared at him. "I already talked to her! Didn't anyone ever tell you it was impolite to cut people off?" she demanded, causing Obi-Wan to smirk. "I was looking for Luke. I haven't seen him all day, and---" She stopped herself, having noticed that Anakin looked like he was cornered. "You don't know either, do you? Force! I thought that you would know! What kind of fath---"

"What!" Anakin exclaimed. He had thought that only Corran knew, and that was because Anakin had been a little tipsy this one time and sort of said he was Luke's father. Corran hadn't really been surprised. Regardless, how did Mara Jade, of all people, know?

"Oh, sith. I said that last part out loud, didn't I?" Mara realized. She was silent for a few seconds before she started talking to Anakin again. "Look, if you don't know, then I have something pretty important to tell you---and the rest of the Council."

Obi-Wan, who had been on the verge of laughing out loud at Anakin's reaction to what Mara had said, was suddenly very serious and interested in what Mara had to say. "About what?" Obi-Wan asked before suddenly realizing that she probably sensed the disturbance in the Force. "Does it have something to do with the Sith?" He got a look from Anakin for saying that but ignored it.

Mara nodded. "Palpatine's on Byss."

"See? I told the Council! I was right!" Anakin told Obi-Wan, who silenced his friend.

"My other self told me about it in a vision," Mara explained. "You were there, Master Skywalker. In ghost form. You tried to destroy Palpatine, but it didn't work."

Anakin stared at her. "You saw _that_? You saw what happened in the throne---How?"

Mara shook her head. "I don't know how, but---" She stopped talking as the room started to tilt and went dark. Semiconscious, Mara was vaguely aware that Anakin had caught her before she had hit the ground and that Obi-Wan was calling for a medic, but she heard a strange voice in her head, loud and clear. In five words, any doubt that Palpatine was not back were dispelled. The Dark Lord of the Sith who had almost controlled the galaxy told the one who should have been his Hand the same words he had told the Mara Jade that had been the Emperor's Hand: _YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER._

* * *

Han hadn't been finished getting the _Falcon_ prepped for takeoff for nearly a minute when the kid and Princess arrived. The reactions of the two were very similar, he noted as he walked out to greet them. 

"You came in _that_?" the Princess half asked, half exclaimed.

"What a piece of junk!" the kid exclaimed.

Han sighed as he leaned against one of the poles that lowered the boarding ramp. It seemed that the _Falcon _was never to get the respect that it deserved. "She doesn't look like much, but she'll make point five past lightspeed. I completed the Kessel run in twelve parsecs with this ship, you know."

"I'll bet," the kid murmured under his breath.

"You're coming too, kid?" Han asked, choosing to ignore the statement for the moment. He had been prepared for the kid coming along, regardless, but it had seemed at the bar that the Princess had originally planned on running away by herself.

"Well, yeah. It wouldn't be right leaving Leia by herself," the kid replied, sending a meaningful glare Han's way.

"Could one of you do something useful?" the Princess said, tired of the guys arguing. If she had to weather more than a few days of this...

"But I am, Your Worshipfulness," Han replied sarcastically. "I'm flying the ship, like you paid me to do. Kid can carry your luggage for you." Han walked back into the _Falcon_, shortly followed by the Princess and the kid, who was in fact carrying the Princess' luggage.

"Where should I put my stuff?" the Princess asked. She was starting to grate on Han's nerves.

"One of the cabins," Han replied and pointed in the correct direction of the location. "They're that way." Leia then went off in that direction with her suitcase in tow. "Either I want to kill her, or I'm beginning to like her," Han mumbled, and then turned to the kid. "So... Since we're all going to have to spend a considerable amount of time together, you mind telling me your name, kid? 'Cuz, I mean, it's sort of annoying to just call you 'kid.'"

"Uh, my name's Luke... Skywalker."

"Really?" Han said in semi-disbelief. "Huh. Are you related to that one Jedi?" _I mean, hey, the kid has the same last name as the Skywalker guy that worked with Kenobi..._

"No," Luke answered quickly. "I know him, but I don't think I'm related to him."

"Ah." Han personally didn't believe that for a second. They stood in silence for a moments. "I guess that you're joining the Rebellion like Her Highnessness?" Han asked.

"Yeah. I want to be a fighter pilot."

"But aren't you a Jedi?" Han asked. "I mean, you're dressed like one..." It was true. The kid (_Dammit, I'm still calling him "kid." Oh well, it suits him all right.)_ was wearing a vaguely Jedi-like outfit, which was black. The Jedi didn't wear black, with some exceptions.

"No. I'm not a Jedi," Luke replied. "I'm only an apprentice."

"But you're a Jedi in training. It's the same difference," Han insisted.

"I guess..." Luke sighed. "Dangit. I feel so guilty for just leaving. I really should have told someone. Maybe Master Skywalker. I'm sure he would understand. He always does."

"You must really look up to him," Han stated. _Wow. I'm not usually this nice to people. Weird. It's hard not to like the kid, though..._

Luke didn't have to answer since her Highness stormed back to where he and Han were. She seemed a little freaked out about something, if Han didn't say so himself. "You---you have a Wookie copilot, right?" she demanded.

"So you met Chewie?" Han asked.

"No---everything's covered in fur!" she exclaimed.

"I thought there was something different about your dress... I mean, Your Worship, Wookie fur really isn't your color."

* * *

Days later, the _Millennium Falcon_ exited hyperspace in a system with a gas giant planet with multiple habitable moons, and Han couldn't be more glad. The Princess had been annoying him day in and day out. Sure, the kid was all right to talk to, but he was still a little depressed about leaving. Chewie had been made a few comments about Han's behavior which Han didn't particularly like and, as a consequence, wasn't talking to him. _There's no way in any of the Corellian hells that I like that..._ Han's rational line of thought deteriorated from there. "No reward's worth this..." Han murmured, causing the kid to laugh a bit. Han had forgotten that Luke was in the cockpit. Had he really been thinking that much about how much he didn't like the Royal Pain? 

"She's not normally like this," Luke reassured Han.

"Really? Could've fooled me," Han replied while plotting the course to their destination with Chewie. "Which moon is it again?"

"The fourth one, I think," Luke replied. "Han, do you really think that Leia's that annoying? I mean, yeah, she's been acting like a rancor, but---"

Chewie growled something about how Han was the one that was acting like a rancor.

"Very funny, Chewie. And, kid, trust me, I've seen rancors, and they're a lot nicer than Her Worship," Han told them.

Leia then walked into the cockpit. Han noticed that she had managed to clean her white dress of any and all Wookie hair. Good for her. Her hair was done up in this double bun thing which made her look like she'd super glued cinnamon buns to the sides of her head. "We're going to Yavin 4," instructed the Princess.

"Already on the way there, Your Highness," Han replied.

"I'm amazed you remembered," Leia quipped as she sat down in the seat behind Chewie.

"Unlike some people, I can listen," Han retorted.

"Oh, really? I wasn't aware that the definition of listening meant to ignore one completely and do the opposite of what was asked."

"I'm sorry, Your Worshipfulness, were you saying something?" Han asked, pretending he hadn't been listening.

"You---you---you son of a Sith!" Leia exclaimed, infuriated.

"So Her Holiness can swear! I'm amazed you had it in you."

"Can't we all just get along?" Luke asked, fed up of all the arguing.

"No!" Han and Leia yelled at Luke in reply.

Chewie just shook his head and tried to block the Princess and smuggler out, wondering the entire time if this was what he would have had to go through in the galaxy where the Empire did rule. Maybe Princess Leia and Han wouldn't have fought like children. Maybe they would have gotten along. Chewie glanced back at the two and decided that there was little to no chance of that.

* * *

It had been approximately five days, thirteen hours, twenty-four minutes and forty-five seconds since Padmé had seen Leia. It had been exactly four days, nine hours, thirty-seven minutes and fifty-seven seconds since Anakin had been exiled to the couch for allowing Leia to go off-planet to who knows where. Padmé had to admit that she had a pretty good idea where her wayward daughter had gone. The Senate meetings had been even more boring than usual when Leia wasn't there to make snide comments via datapad, and today was no exception. Bail was absent, but he was working on the Rebellion, which Padmé privately endorsed. She pretended to know nothing about Bail's involvement when asked by other Senators since the group was considered to be criminal by the Senate and the Chancellor. 

As the meeting went on, Padmé's thoughts kept returning to what Anakin had said when he had tried to break the news of Leia's disappearance as easily as possible. Anakin really had no subtly or finesse except when fighting with lightsaber in hand. It was so hard to stay angry at that man, but this time was testing Padmé's ability to forgive him. She had known he was still hiding something, but Padmé had figured it out before Anakin could even try to explain: both of their children were missing. That was what had caused her to exile him to the couch. Sure, she had ignored him for an entire day, but Padmé knew Anakin was just as (if not more) worried than she was. His overactive imagination probably had put Leia in some situation that included Hutt crime lords and bronze bikinis, not that he'd ever want to see Leia in a gold bikini or within a parsec of a Hutt. Padmé also realized that Anakin probably was more concerned about whom Leia had decided to befriend, remembering when the future-Leia had brought home a handsome Corellian freighter pilot whom Anakin had hated after the arrest of Palpatine.

Jar Jar was sitting in the seat next to Padmé. The Gungan was surprisingly good at politics. Padmé had had her doubts about her old friend at the beginning, especially with his suggestion to give Palpatine emergency powers, but he was definitely one of the better and uncorrupted politicians. Maybe Jar Jar was just as bored with the Senate meeting as she was. "Jar Jar," Padmé whispered. No response. "Jar Jar!" Still no response. "Jar Jar!" Padmé nudged him.

"Huh?" Jar Jar said, half asleep. Yes, Jar Jar was just as bored at Padmé was. Even more so, since he had fallen asleep.

"I want to talk to you about something," Padmé said. "And I figured that this would be as good a time as any seeing that both of us are bored out of their minds."

"What do yousa want ta talk 'bout?" Jar Jar asked, intrigued.

"Well, as you might know, my daughter ran away a few days ago. Anakin, in his supreme I-don't-know-what, didn't bother to tell me he didn't know where she was for a few hours after he knew she was missing. I don't know whether to forgive him or stay angry at him for a few more days."

"Was it really Ani's fault?" Jar Jar asked. "Hesa always so overprotective of yous daughter. Very overprotective. As in no let Leia date until shesa thirty."

"That is very true, Jar Jar, and it wasn't his fault, but he was supposed to be keeping track of her." Padmé sighed. "I know he is beating himself up about it, but he's not doing anything!"

"Didn't de Jedi have sometin muyo importante ta say? Like dat de Empire is not so good dat dey make demselves out ta be? Mebbe dat's why Ani not doen nothin," Jar Jar suggested.

"You're right, Jar Jar. Anakin did say something about the Empire stirring things up. He was about to go into more detail, but he got a call from the Council and had to leave. Something bad is happening, something really bad."

"Dere was some whispers 'bout mebbe de Sith combackie," Jar Jar informed her. "Mesa hopen dat dey're wrong, but if da rumors be true... Sometin really bombad is happening again. Boss Nass thinkie that mebbe Naboo should support da other side."

"What do you think of supporting the RA?" Padmé asked. The current Queen of Naboo was actually pressuring Padmé for making a decision to support the Alliance, but only on the condition that the Gungans were behind her. "Hypothetically, the Queen would agree if the Gungans agreed."

"Wesa want ta support de good guys," Jar Jar replied. "Besides, Bail and Mon think de Alliance is for de better. Theysa good, so de Alliance is da good side. Boss Nass agrees with de Queen, and mesa agree with dem."

"I'll tell Bail next time I see him, then," Padmé said. Naboo would finally be part of the Rebel Alliance. "...Jar Jar? Can you keep a secret?"

"Yep. Mesa won't tell nobody."

"I think Leia ran off to join the Alliance."

"Mesa not surprised," Jar Jar replied cheerfully. "Shesa always knows what's right. Must be because of her parents. De Alliance wud be very happy ta have her support."

"I suppose you're right, Jar Jar. She'll probably end up being one of the figureheads of the Rebellion. Everyone would know who she was, but that would also mean that bounty hunters would be after her, and she'll always be in danger," Padmé worried. "I mean, she'll be surrounded by people who would die for her, but I'm still afraid."

"Padmé, shesa be alright. Nutten bad happen ta her while yousa and Ani have sometin to say 'bout it. Plus, shesa mebbe find someone who wud guard her with his life."

_And that's exactly what Anakin's afraid of..._ Padmé thought. "Thanks, Jar Jar. You're a really great friend."

* * *

Ysanne Isard stood clad in a gym uniform in the middle of a gymnasium and wondered how in the galaxy that while she had one of the best spy networks in the galaxy that she was still in school. Not just in school, but in a grade that almost fit her age and playing ping-pong with one of the most indisputably insufferable people in the entire universe. And Wes Janson was winning 45-0. When the Empire started to control things, she'd put out a personal bounty on Janson. He scored another point. Now it was 46-0. 

"Lizard, you're being even worse at sports than usual. What's going on?" Janson asked. If Ysanne only had something other than a ping-pong paddle to hit him with...

"I'm just thinking about how I'm going to make sure you die after the Republic falls," Ysanne answered frankly. "I think I'll have you tortured and flayed before being electrocuted. If you shut up, I might just consider letting a firing squad take care of you."

"Lizard, it's not even lunch yet, and you're already talking about morbid topics. I really have to cure you of this addiction. Maybe you should start playing video games. They help you release lots of tension." Wes put on a thoughtful expression as he scored another point. "Of course, maybe you just need some anger management classes..."

Screw Anakin Skywalker, Janson's removal is more important to the sanity of the Empire, Ysanne in particular. "I think you just threw away the firing squad option," she growled. Janson scored another point.

"I'm afraid you have something wrong, Iceheart," Janson said, suddenly serious. "I'd sooner get shot down then get captured by you or your goonies."

"So you admit the superiority of the Empire?" Ysanne asked, surprised that she might score a point against the annoying should-be Rebel.

Janson's normal demeanor resurfaced. "No, just saying that I wouldn't get caught dead near any of the uptight Imps you associate yourself with. What horrible fashion sense you have! The uniforms are bad enough in black, but no, you have to outdo them." He scored another point. "I mean, come on, Lizard! An Imp uniform in **red**? That's even tackier than half dried glue!"

"I give up!" Ysanne exclaimed. Janson scored yet another point.

"Really?" Janson asked, surprised. "Can I get the Empire's official surrender here and now, or do I have to wait until the Rebellion beats you into submission?" The ping-pong ball bounced another two times on Ysanne's side of the table.

"The Rebellion is soon to be crushed, Janson! I heard the Grand Moff give the order himself to destroy that moon the scum has been hiding on!" Ysanne yelled at him.

Janson was not perturbed by the outburst. "Good will win out, just like it always does," he said as he sent the hollow plastic ball over the net again. "The Jedi are gonna figure out what the right side is sooner than later, according to Corran, so the Empire's odds are looking down."

"It doesn't matter! The Death Star's indestructible!" Ysanne replied, glaring at Janson. If he only knew...

"No, it isn't," Celchu stated. He and Kilvian were playing at the table next to Janson and Ysanne. The other two Rogues had apparently been listening.

"He's right, you know," Kilvian said.

"Yup," Janson agreed, scoring yet another point against Ysanne. "It's easy. All you have to do is fly down the equatorial trench in a snubfighter like a mynock out of Sith hell, evading all of the guns lining the trench and any of the TIEs which happen to try to kill you, and making a shot that's impossible for a computer of hitting an exhaust port which is no bigger than a womp rat. As I said, simple."

"You're insane, Janson. Anyone who would try to even attempt that is completely insane," Ysanne declared. "They'd have to have all of their screws loose!"

"Hence why Wedge is going to be part of the offensive," Celchu commented.

"Too bad Mr. Skywalker doesn't know about the Death Star," Kilvian said. "Corran always says that he loves flying and blowing stuff up."

"You're all incurable!" Ysanne shouted. They were really getting on her nerves. No, any of the Rogues would have insanely high bounties on them. Yes. That would be absolutely perfect! Then she could oversee all of their executions! No blowing up in space for them... unless it was at the hands of one of the Sith Lords.

"We know," Janson said happily as the teacher walked over. Mr. Halleck had finally decided that the strange conversation was worth paying at least some attention to. If not, maybe he thought Ysanne should go to the Counselor's office for a while.

"Miss Isard, are you all right?" Mr. Halleck asked tentatively.

"I'll be fine when I'm away from _them_!" Ysanne exclaimed.

"But Mr. Halleck, we weren't doing anything. We were just talking and playing ping-pong!" Kilvian defended himself and the other two villainous rogues.

"That's right Mr. Halleck!" Celchu exclaimed. "Hobbie and I weren't doing anything!"

"Gee, thanks, guys," Janson murmured.

"And Wes was just kicking Li---Isard's butt at ping-pong!" Celchu added.

Ysanne glared at them. "They were making fun of my political views and saying that the Rebels were the good guys, instead of the criminals that they are!"

"Now, Miss Isard, they have a right to their own views as much as you have a right to your views, but that doesn't mean that you have to scream at them because they think something different than you," Mr. Halleck scolded her.

It took all of Ysanne's self control not to glare at the teacher. "Yes, Mr. Halleck," she mumbled, trying to just get the teacher to leave.

"Good," Mr. Halleck said before going to investigate the disturbance on the other side of the gymnasium.

"I swear to God I'll get you all for this," Ysanne threatened Janson, Celchu, and Kilvian. "I swear! You'll all pay!"

"Only if you can catch us, Iceheart," Janson told her, "Only if you can catch us."

* * *

Tarkin was smirking. It was almost time for the final destruction of the Rebellion. If the Rebels were defeated, then there would be almost nothing standing in the way of galactic domination. The Jedi Order was still deemed a threat, but what were they against four Sith? Even the mighty Anakin Skywalker couldn't stand against all them and live. Tarkin was sitting on the bridge of the Death Star. In the short time from when the Sith had returned to the current day, the Death Star had been completed. Granted, when Tarkin had imagined the space station to be only half completed, he hadn't expected Lemelisk to mean that the paint job wasn't done yet. The Death Star looked better without paint, anyway. 

Besides Tarkin, there were no other Moffs or Admirals, but the third Sith Lord had joined him, saying that he was the only one able to destroy the Rebel scum. While Tarkin doubted that, he had allowed the Lord to come along. It would be a good test of his skills. Grievous had almost insisted that he be allowed to come along, but Tarkin had always hated the annoying bio-droid and realized that he could only stand one evildoer with breathing problems at a time.

As to the location of the Rebel base, the Empire had known about the particular base they were about to attack for a long time. The name of the planet struck a chord with most of the Imperial commanders, but most were unsure as to why. Tarkin believed that it was when the Empire had finally won, but others, such as Xizor, were not as sure. The Dark Lord that was following Tarkin around seemed to have the same opinion as Xizor on that subject alone since they bickered the rest of the time. Despite everyone else's opinion, Tarkin was sure that the upcoming Battle of Yavin would destroy the Rebellion, and if Tarkin was lucky, Bail Organa as well. Oh, how Tarkin hated that man. The only person who was potentially as bad as Organa was that Amidala woman from Naboo.

Tarkin smiled as he issued the order to make the final jump to hyperspace. Now Yavin was a matter of hours away, and with it was the Rebellion's final destruction. Everything was going to plan...

* * *

On Yavin 4, everything was not going to plan. Leia was rather perturbed that her godfather was telling her to go back to Coruscant on the grounds that her parents were going bonkers. Of course, Bail hadn't said those exact words, but Leia figured that "bonkers" was a more succinct way to explain how her parents were acting. She had expected that her father would be banished to the couch for about a month for losing her, but she hadn't expected both of them to act as badly as they had been. For example, she hadn't expected her mother to have an intelligent conversation with Jar Jar about her disappearance during a Senate meeting. She could have imagined it after a Senate meeting or before one, but not during. Luckily, only Garm Bel Ibis had noticed. 

After the conversation ended and she had walked back into the hanger bay, Leia noticed that Han had a particularly amused look on his face. "Find something funny?" she demanded of him.

"Why, yes, Princess. You just got chewed out by your old man for escaping one of the safest planets in the galaxy," Han replied.

"You were listening!" Leia accused him.

"No, it's just that everyone could hear you from out here," Han refuted nonchalantly.

"You're incorrigible!" Leia shouted at him. She was not in a good mood, and she didn't need the annoying space pirate to make it even worse.

"Princess, you should know better than to use fancy words around me. I can't be cured of my faults, you know," Han smoothly replied.

Leia glared at him. "Stop mocking me!"

"Whoever said I was mocking you?" Han asked.

"Leave me alone!" Leia yelled before storming off to somewhere where Captain Han Solo wasn't.

"What did I do?" Han asked no one in particular.

Chewie made a sound of disbelief and replied that she was already upset that she was going to have to go back to Coruscant and that Han had made her feel worse.

"Oh. Maybe I should go apologize?" Han suggested. Why did he feel badly? Stupid conscience. It always had to revive itself when a hopeless cause presented itself, didn't it? Or when he hurt a girl's feelings.

Chewie counseled Han that that would be a good idea, but that he shouldn't get in another argument while trying to apologize since that would just make everything even worse.

"You're right, Chewie, but I doubt she'd listen to me," Han said.

Chewie shook his head. No, he replied. She would listen if Han turned off the sarcasm and actually told her that he was sorry in an apologetic tone of voice.

"Thanks, Chewie," Han said and grinned before rushing off in the direction that the Princess had walked off.

Chewie went back to work on the _Falcon_, wondering how he had gotten himself in this mess in the first place. Then he remembered that it started off with how he had worked with Yoda during the Clone Wars...

* * *

Luke had barely been signed up for five minutes before he ran into Wedge in the hanger bay. "Wedge! What are you doing here?" he asked, somewhat confused as to how Wedge had gotten to Yavin before him. Then again, Han had made a pit stop at Myrkr for about a day to refuel. 

"I work here," Wedge replied. "What about you? I thought that Kenobi wouldn't let you out of his sight?"

"I sorta left without telling anyone," Luke explained.

"I never would have expected you to do that," Wedge said, genuinely amazed. "You didn't even tell Corran?"

"No. I think that he'd feel obligated to stop me for some reason," Luke stated. "And then he'd tell Master Skywalker, who definitely wouldn't let me leave."

"I always had the impression that he was one of the more liberal Jedi Masters."

Luke shrugged. "He is about some things, like most of the rules in the Code, but he wouldn't let me go anywhere near either the Rebellion or the Empire. I know that if he had to choose one of the two, he'd send me here, though."

Wedge realized a problem with what Luke had told him. "Uh, Luke? How did you sign up? I mean, you need a last name."

Luke laughed nervously. "Well, I, uh, sorta borrowed 'Skywalker' as my last name," he admitted, then exclaimed, "It was Leia's idea, I swear!"

Wedge grinned. "Luke, you'll have no problem pulling that off as your last name. Trust me, with your flying skills, you'll be leading your own squadron after the first battle you're in!"

"I'm not that good!" Luke argued.

"Yes, you are, Luke," Wedge insisted. "Don't be so modest."

"I'm not being modest! I'm nowhere near as good as Master Skywalker at flying!" Luke exclaimed and noticed that Wedge didn't seem to be paying attention. Luke turned around just in time to see Leia storm off in the direction of the mess hall, shortly followed by Han, who had probably made her angry for the tenth time that day.

"Wow. Was she Princess Leia?" Wedge asked.

"Yeah," Luke said. "As I said, she's the one that talked me into using 'Skywalker' as my last name."

"Damn, she's hot! No wonder Tycho talks about her all the time!"

"Yeah, but she's really cranky in the morning," Luke said, causing Wedge to stare at him. "What? I was stuck on a freighter with her for a few days with her, Han, and Chewie!"

"Oh. Good."

Luke realized what Wedge had been thinking. "Wedge!"

"What was I supposed to think?" Wedge demanded. "Never mind, don't answer that. Regardless, we need to start getting ready for the impending Imperial attack."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a superweapon capable of destroying an entire planet which is going to arrive in a matter of hours. A spy alerted the High Command to the danger. Since the one-man fighters are the only things capable of destroying the space station, we have to get to the briefing."

"And you didn't mention this earlier because?"

"I have a feeling that it's all going to be all right," Wedge stated. "And I don't know where the briefing room is. You know, I should be in gym right now, not preparing to destroy the most fearsome weapon the galaxy has ever known."

"We should get going, you know," Luke said. "Waiting makes everything seem infinitesimally worse."

Wedge nodded. "I'm better now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I just remembered that I didn't leave anything to Wes."

Luke wasn't convinced. "Wedge..."

"Yes, I'm better! Let's go and find out how to blow this thing up," Wedge declared.

* * *

_**Reviews**:_

_ **JadeAlmasy**: Thank you for reviewing!_

_**SuperBlonde**: I'm glad you liked the dream sequence! I had fun writing it, like most of the parts of this chapter. Especially the conversation between Jar Jar and Padmé and the ping-pong battle.  
_

_**Tinnyna**: I don't know when this one will come to an end, but I'll try to get it out as soon as possible!_

_**Jas-TheMaddTexan**: Thanks! I swear I won't stop writing this one until I'm finished with it!_

_**Favorites**: Thank you **Black Night Angel** and **Jas-TheMaddTexan** for adding this to your favorites lists!  
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	6. Death Star Problems and Tarkin Is Mocked

_Oh, yeah. I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, and I could give you excuses (driving school and service), but I'm not going to go into it (oh, that was so oximoronic). Lots of stuff happens in this chapter, but it's mostly stuff that did happen combined with stuff that didn't. Yeah, that and I still haven't said who the anonymous (sorta) Dark Lord is. I don't know if I'm actually going to say anything about identity till I figure out how he got there... Of course, I haven't explained the Empire either, but that's not important. This chapter took forever to write. Probably because I had no clue how to write the Battle of Yavin. So... Thank you all very much for reading! I appreciate it very much! Enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

When Leia had been told that the Death Star was coming to the Yavin system, she knew that Bail was going to insist that she get off immediately, which meant that Leia would have to spend another few days stuck in the _Falcon_ with Han. Currently, Leia was rushing towards the command center. She passed numerous pilots but stopped in front of a particular one she recognized. "Luke! Why---You're flying on this mission?" 

"Yeah," Luke replied. "It's the right thing to do, even if it was described as a suicide mission."

"But---but what about---" Leia tried to protest.

"I think I can do this, Leia. I think I might actually be able to blow the space station up." Luke grinned and continued, "And, as you and Han like to point out, I am a Jedi."

Leia stared at Luke. Force, could this guy surprise her, and yet Leia had known that he was probably going do this sort of thing. With no other option available, Leia smiled. "Good luck, Luke. I'm sure you'll do great. May the Force be with you."

"You, too, Leia," Luke replied before Leia started back on her way.

Leia had been walking for a few minutes through the hanger when she came upon Han. The _Falcon_ had signs of being prepped for takeoff, but Han was standing next to his ship, watching everyone scurry around and try to get ready for the fast-approaching attack. "Hey, Princess," he said.

Leia was about to reply, but realized she didn't know what to call him. Was the relationship informal enough to allow her to call him Han, or should she still call him Solo? "Hello, Han. I see you're getting out of here as fast as you can," Leia remarked.

"I have other jobs, you know," Han replied. "And I don't really think that staying around here is all that good for my health."

"So you're just going to desert us?" Leia demanded.

"No," Han replied. "I was just hired to take someone away from here, ASAP. I'm being paid twice what you offered, in addition to the eternal gratitude of a handful of Senators and, for some reason, the entire Jedi Council. Least, that's what Organa said." Han shrugged. "Sorry, Princess, but it's almost time to go."

Leia shook her head, knowing that he meant that Bail had hired him to take her back to Coruscant. "I'm not leaving, and you can't make me."

"Look around you, Leia! This place is going to be destroyed if the fighter pilots aren't able to do their job! I talked to some of them, and they aren't even sure that the targeting computers can make the shot!"

"I know," Leia declared. "I know it's a one-in-a-million shot, and that this is a hopeless cause, but I also know that this sort of backing down is cowardly."

"When I was talking to him, Organa said he doubted if even _Anakin Skywalker_ would be able to make the shot, and even I know that guy is the best pilot that's ever lived!" Han exclaimed. "Look, I don't expect you to like having to leave, but we do have to go."

"God dammit, Solo!" Leia yelled at him, infuriated. "I don't give a damn about whatever the odds against us are, and I don't care if not even my father could make the shot, but I do care about letting the Empire run around the galaxy with a weapon with enough firepower to destroy an entire planet! It's just not right!"

"Then let the fighter pilots do their jobs!" Han shouted back. "If you're off planet, and the station's destroyed, then everything's fine! Hell, if that happens, then I'll take you back here, all right?"

The glare Leia had been sporting softened at that remark. "Do you really mean that?" Leia asked, skeptical as to whether Han was truly sincere or not.

"Yes, Princess," Han reassured her, "I really mean it when I said that I'll take you back, but you do seriously have to call your parents or something, 'cause Organa looked like he'd been driven to distraction by them."

* * *

As Luke and Wedge were running around and trying to figure out where their X-wings supposedly were, they ran into an old friend of theirs who had left off the year before to join the Republic's space navy. "Biggs!" both exclaimed. 

Biggs turned towards the two and grinned. "Luke! Wedge! What are you two doing here? I thought neither of you'd ever be allowed off Coruscant!"

"Much less join the Rebellion," Wedge added. "My sister 'doesn't' know or approve of my actions, should my parents ever discover that I joined."

"I don't think I'll be able to go anywhere near Coruscant in the near future," Luke said, "Seeing as the Senate's starting to think the Rebellion's the real threat now and the fact that I'm going to get the biggest lecture from Masters Kenobi and Skywalker."

"So it is true that you left without telling anyone?" Biggs asked. "I didn't think you would have ever done anything like that in a million years."

"Yeah," Luke replied, a little embarrassed. "I came here with Princess Leia. She sorta convinced me to come."

"Speaking of Princess Leia," Wedge started, "I now completely understand why Tycho idolizes her. Damn, I would let her convince me of anything!"

Luke groaned. "Wedge! You really need to stop saying stuff like that!"

Biggs seemed to be highly amused of the entire exchange. "Guys, you do know that it's almost time to go, right? Where are you trying to get to anyway?"

"Uh..." Wedge said. "Our ships?"

Biggs laughed. "You guys... Always the ones who don't pay attention. Look around. Which two fighters are not occupied at the moment?"

"Ah. I take it these are our X-wings?"

"Sure seems like it," Luke stated, walking over to one of the X-wings.

"Great!" Wedge exclaimed energetically. "Time to go kick some Imperial arse!"

* * *

Tarkin was watching the tactical monitors. They said that the Rebels were mounting an assault on the Death Star. TIE fighters had already been ordered out to counterattack. "This is preposterous!" he declared. "They're actually trying to fight back!" 

The Dark Lord of the Sith made a sound which sounded reminiscent of a laugh. "Is that so?" he asked, disbelievingly. "I thought that this battle station was invincible? That it is now 'the decisive force in this part of the universe' ?"

"I do not think that the Emperor would take your remarks as kindly as I am," Tarkin sneered. "Any attack made by the meager Rebel Alliance is of no concern. Maybe if they had a decent Jedi pilot, then they would have a chance, but they do not, according to the latest intel."

"Fate and the Force always find a way," the Dark Lord replied tersely.

"Even though a copy of the plans was spirited away by some Jedi spies, I doubt that they would give it to the Rebellion," Tarkin remarked, sure of the station's invulnerability. "Or do you withholding information from us which could turn the tide of the battle, my Lord?"

"This battle station is no where near indomitable," the Sith decided to tell Tarkin. "But only a partially trained Jedi can make the shot to destroy the station."

It was Tarkin's turn to laugh mockingly. "Oh, really? And how do you know this?"

The Dark Lord grinned to himself and lied. "No reason, Grand Moff Tarkin. It is just that what I described is exactly what ...I have foreseen could occur."

"The only Jedi that could even fly well enough to outmaneuver all the TIEs we will deploy, the stationary guns, and your supposedly highly esteemed flying skills would be Anakin Skywalker," Tarkin asserted. "And he doesn't know about the existence of the Death Star. Therefore, the approaching onslaught is doomed to fail."

The Sith shook his head. "No. There is most definitely another, and I am the best pilot the Empire has."

"Really?" Tarkin didn't believe him for a second. There was no way that this guy could out fly every pilot in the Imperial forces.

"Yes. I have defeated Anakin Skywalker."

"I very much doubt that," Tarkin told him, disbelievingly.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing." _I hate you too, Tarkin. Always have, always will... I should just let the Rebels destroy the Death Star to shut up this piece of bantha fodder.  
_  
"Well, then I suggest that you help defend the battle station from the attack," Tarkin announced. "Or shall I have to report your disobedience to the Emperor?"

Before stalking out of the room, the Dark Lord replied, "No, Tarkin. I was going to help in the fight regardless. If I return, then I will admit that the station is indeed invincible. If not, I will be glad that I never have to see you again."

Once the Dark Lord had left, Tarkin turned back to the screens which were still displaying the tactical data. Nothing bothered him, except for one thing: What did that Sith mean by that last statement?

* * *

The _Falcon_ had been waiting a considerable distance from the fourth moon of Yavin, the Death Star, and the transpiring battle. Han was fine with the waiting, but his patience did not cover Princesses who would not stop talking about how he was deserting the Rebellion and Luke. Her tirade was getting tiring. Chewie had suggested that he and Han lock her out of the cockpit, but they had not been presented with the chance since the Princess had boarded the ship. Han swore to every deity he had ever heard of that he better still be getting those huge rewards that were supposed to be coming to him. "...And furthermore, Solo, you know that..." the Princess was still ranting, but Han had blocked her out again. This was going to be a long trip, regardless of the outcome.

* * *

Luke couldn't believe it. Minutes ago, he, Wedge, and Biggs were helping take down the deflector towers, then they had been destroying TIE fighters. But that wasn't it. No, it wasn't. Red Squadron had then started to make their attack runs on the Death Star. Only three pilots were left: Luke, Biggs, and Wedge. They had just been told to start the attack run by Red Leader, who had died only moments before. Luke felt as if he hadn't completely processed the information. 

"Red Five! Luke!" Wedge said across the comlink. "Wake up!"

"Huh?" Luke snapped back to reality. "Right. Let's go in at full speed. That will probably keep those three fighters off of our tails."

"Okay, Boss," Wedge replied, grinning, as he and Biggs formed up their X-wings behind Luke's X-wing. "We're ready anytime you are."

"Wait a sec, you don't mean---" Luke had started to protest as they entered the trench, but he stopped talking once they were there. They were already past the point of no-return. _Time to concentrate..._

"At full speed, do you think you'll be able to get out in time?" Biggs suddenly asked, cruising down the trench behind Luke.

Luke nodded absentmindedly while checking the targeting computer before remembering to reply verbally. "Yes. I'm pretty sure I can get out."

"Luke, Biggs, I'm picking up the fighters again, coming in at 6 o'clock," Wedge announced. "They're the same three as before..."

Biggs turned around inside the cockpit of his X-wing. "I've got visual confirmation," he told the other two Rebel pilots.

"Dammit, they're coming in faster this time!" Wedge cursed as the TIEs began to commence their attack on the last of Red Squadron.

Luke barely registered what Wedge and Biggs had said. He was waiting for the computer get a lock on the exhaust port and come up with a shooting solution. Red Leader had shot one of his proton torpedoes off, but it had only impacted on the surface. _Maybe it's the computer that can't make the shot..._ There was another way to aim, and Luke knew that he could make the shot that way---by using the Force. Luke calmed himself, but once he connected with the Force, he felt a powerful dark presence behind him. _One of the Sith?_

"Hurry up, Luke!" Biggs exclaimed. "I don't think we can hold them off much longer!"

* * *

The Dark Lord of the Sith was in a TIE Advanced since the Imperials apparently hadn't developed the TIE Defender yet. That was yet another reason that Tarkin deserved to be destroyed with the Death Star. The thought that maybe the Death Star wouldn't be destroyed had entered the Sith's mind, but he didn't think that a galaxy with the Jedi wouldn't have at least the one pilot needed to make the shot siding with the Alliance. 

While chasing the last three Rebels in the current flight group, the Sith felt a very familiar presence and smiled coldly. _So everything is happening like before. Good._ He shot down one of the three X-wings in the trench and was able to nick one of the others shortly thereafter. _Now to wait for that irritating Corellian to show up... _"I'm on the leader."_

* * *

_"Luke, I'm sorry, I can't stay with you," Wedge told Luke. Only a minute before had Biggs been killed by their pursuers, and now Wedge was having problems. The situation had not gone from bad to worse, but from worse to a disaster. "There's a major malfunction in one of the---"

Luke sighed. There was no way he was losing any more friends today. "Wedge, there's no use staying back there. Get out of here while you still can."

"Sorry," was the only thing Wedge could say in reply as he moved his fighter out of the trench. None of the TIEs that were chasing them made a move to follow.

After turning off his targeting computer, Luke connected with the Force again. It had apparently decided to practically scream "Danger!" at him but stopped when two of the three TIEs seemingly spontaneously combusted while the third spun off uncontrollably away from the Death Star. A familiar voice then shouted over the radio: "You're all clear, Kid! Let's blow this thing and go home!" Chewie roared in agreement with Han.

Luke grinned. "I copy that!" He then went back to the task at hand. Suddenly, everything became clear, and he aimed and fired the proton torpedoes. Luke didn't need to check to see if he'd missed or not as he pulled the X-wing up before the end of the trench; Luke knew he hadn't missed.

The surviving Rebels, Luke and Wedge included, and the _Falcon_ then proceeded to get as far away from the Death Star as they could. The space station detonated seconds after the fleeing group was completely out of range of the shockwave which came with the explosion. Both in space and on the ground of Yavin 4, the Rebels cheered.

* * *

Back on Coruscant, the Jedi Council was having one of their normal meetings. Half of the Council was sleeping with its eyes open, whereas the other half were listening with their eyes shut, while they had just been, yet again, listening to Jedi Master C'baoth complain. 

Obi-Wan was about to say something when a very powerful disturbance in the Force presented itself. It jolted the entire Council awake. "What just happened?" Obi-Wan managed to exclaim.

"A lot of people just died," Anakin replied, half trying to make some light of the situation by stating the obvious. "I wonder why?"

A light bulb went on in Obi-Wan's mind. The Death Star. "No... It can't be..."

"A great battle between the Empire and Rebellion, there has been," Yoda decided. "Perished, many on both sides have."

"Could it have been that super weapon the Jedi from the future had mentioned?" Adi Gallia asked. She hadn't been present at the particular meeting where the Council had met with that Jedi during the Clone Wars, but she had heard about it.

Aaron Kent, one of Anakin's coconspirators from the days before the Clone Wars and the most recent addition to the Jedi Council, suddenly figured out what he had been sensing for the past few days. "I think a few Padawans know what is going on."

"I sense shenanigans," Anakin commented serenely. "From the usual suspects, of course. Maybe Corran knows something."

Mace turned to Yoda. "Tell me again why we allowed him to train more Jedi?"

"Remember allowing him, I do not," Yoda replied. "The subject, we must get back on." No one was paying attention---they were too busy ignoring Anakin. "Listen to me, you should!"

"Sorry, Master Yoda," Anakin mumbled, then continued in a normal tone. "But I was just saying that I have a feeling that Corran or Kyle Katarn know something about what happened, if they weren't directly involved in the first place."

"I feel that Anakin is correct," Plo added. "However, I also feel that something more sinister is about to emerge or that something which is equivalent to the election of Palpatine is about to happen."

"What about the Death Star?" Obi-Wan asked. "If that was the cause of those deaths, then what happened? Was it destroyed, which I find it needless to say that that specific case would be a good thing? Or did it destroy a planet or moon?"

"You have a point," Depa decided. "It seems to me that the space station was probably the thing that was destroyed. However, who was in control of it? Was it the Rebels? Or was it the Empire?"

"The Rebels were the ones to destroy it," Mace replied. "The Empire seems to be the type of group that would use the Death Star for it's intended purpose. They probably attacked the Rebel base, and the Rebels probably destroyed it so they would not be obliterated. There is a hole in that theory, though."

Kai-Adi-Mundi nodded. "Yes. We, meaning the Jedi Order in its entirety, have searched for those plans since the beginning and never found them. How could the Rebels known how to destroy the supposedly invincible machine?"

Anakin was strangely quiet as all eyes turned to him. "None of the supposedly key players of the Rebellion who are in the Order have told me about any vision they've had recently," Anakin reported once he had noticed the stares of the others. "No one since Mara Jade's bizarre collapse," he revised after a moment.

"You never did say what she saw happen in her dream," Adi said, mostly because she was still very concerned about Mara, but also because Anakin was supposed to report all of the dreams/visions of the other reality that he was told.

Anakin stiffened. "It's one of the dreams that has been reported before," he lied. He had never told anyone about that particular vision. "Besides, it had nothing to do with the Death Star." _The first one anyway. _"However, what she had been told by another source was the important thing."

Obi-Wan nodded. "She had said that one of the others in the vision told her that Palpatine might be alive on a planet called Byss."

"This all might mean that we will have to side with the Rebel Alliance," Mace noted. "That is, if the Sith side with the Empire."

"Side with the Empire, they will," Yaddle insisted. "Side with the Alliance, we should."

"What if the Senate decides that the Rebellion is wrong in all of this?" Depa brought back up from an earlier meeting. "Since we are under the control of the Senate, then we'll have to start the hunt for the Rebellion, regardless of whether the Sith side with the Empire."

"Troubled, the future is," Yoda decided. "Been this clouded, it has not, since accepted into the order, Anakin was."

"That's reassuring," Obi-Wan muttered. Anakin, the only one close enough to hear the comment, glared at his former Jedi Master. He thought he hadn't been that much of a problem! Except for the time he jumped off that speeder for a few stories, and the time he almost crashed racing swoops, as well as the time he started the legendary food fight in the cafeteria. Of course, the almost turning to the dark side didn't count, because he didn't turn.

Someone knocked on the door before entering. It was Corran and Kyle. "Uh, hey," Corran said. "Um, sorry for interrupting, but I---we think that the Rebel Alliance just blew the Death Star up, and we might know exactly who did it..."

The entire council turned to look at the two somewhat troublesome Jedi apprentices. Anakin suddenly had a bad feeling about this. "Corran, Katarn, what are you two up to?"

The two in question exchanged glances, and Kyle answered. "Well, nothing really..."

"Have some information, you do?" Yoda asked. "About how happened, this did?"

Kyle decided to abandon all inhibitions against what he was about to say. "Yes." He would have said more, but Anakin cut him off.

"How were you two involved?" he accused in low, threatening tones.

Corran realized Kyle was actually going to tell them everything, but Kyle kept going, even though Corran stepped on his foot to try and silence Kyle. "Corran, as usual, is just an informant, but I helped them get the plans." Plo stared at his Padawan. Maybe he should keep a tighter thread on Kyle so he didn't go get himself caught by the authorities for subverting the government.

"And how did you get the plans? How did you get the plans to them, too?" Depa demanded, surprised that even a normally---never mind, Kyle was one of the most rebellious Padawans currently in training.

Corran was glaring at Kyle, trying to get him to shut up, but his efforts proved fruitless. Kyle went on talking. "I went on a raid a while back while Master Plo was away doing something (I had feigned being sick). There, I had been transmitted the plans from another group, headed by a Corellian by the name of Bria Tharen. Unfortunately, all those involved on her end were killed by the Imps. So, from there, I brought the plans to Coruscant, where I borrowed a droid and downloaded the plans to it before handing the plans off to one of the leaders, whom I shall code name Thyme. Thyme, Paprika, and Salt then talked about who would take the plans, then one of them went back to base, I'm assuming. Just in the nick of time, too. I think the Death Star would have blown up the base if the plans hadn't gotten there."

The Council could only stare at Kyle. Corran decided to join in, seeing as nothing else could really make the situation any worse. Then Anakin twitched. _Oh, Force, please have mercy on us!_ Corran prayed. "Kyle Katarn," Anakin said. "I have a question for you."

"Yes, Master Skywalker?"

"Do you know who destroyed the Death Star?"

Kyle grinned, and Corran wished he could disappear. "Yes. Oh, and your daughter joined the Rebels. I was supposed to tell you. From the tone of the message, it seemed she had to do some persuading to do so."

Seeing Anakin's patience deteriorating, Obi-Wan spoke up to try and prevent the meltdown which would probably equal a nuclear reactor going supercritical or do it shame by surpassing its severity by a long stretch. "And who destroyed the Death Star?"

"Luke," Kyle declared. Corran hid behind the door.

Silence permeated the room. Anakin felt like punching a wall, maybe Force-choking someone. Obi-Wan sighed. "I suppose I should have realized that sooner," he recognized.

"You have a real gift for training Jedi, Obi-Wan," Adi mentioned. Realizing everyone would think she was being sarcastic, she added to her statement. "I'm serious."

Corran, who had moved out from behind the door, nodded. "She's right, you know," he said. "I mean, the shot was a one-in-a-million type of thing. I was checking out the plans with Kyle, and I still sorta doubt even you, Master Skywalker, could make the shot."

"Wait," Anakin said, partially over wanting to hide under a rock since his children were obviously crazy (_They inherited that from their mother_, he assured himself) and suicidal while dreading the answer to the question which was soon to follow. "Go back to the 'borrowing' of the droid. _What_ droid were you referring to?"

Corran glared at Kyle. "I'm just going to say it was his idea."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "R2-D2."

Anakin suddenly had a eerily cheerful expression on and turned to Plo. "I'm sorry, Plo, but I have the uncontrollable urge to kill your Padawan."

"Told you we shouldn't have said anything," Corran hissed at Kyle.

"Well, nothing happened! I mean, Luke blew up the Death Star, Leia convinced that smuggler she hired to go back to help, and they're all war heroes now!" Kyle defended.

"I think Hobbie's right. You do need a dictionary," Corran decided. "If that's your definition of 'nothing'."

Mace finally spoke again. "Katarn, Halcyon. One question: are you both going to formally join the Rebellion?"

Corran nodded slowly and smiled. "Yes. We believe it's the right thing to do. Besides, you need twelve pilots to form a squadron, and Luke and Wedge are only two."

"For political reasons, you might have to be cut off from the Order because of the Senate's will," Depa warned them. "The Council may agree with you, but the Senate might not. We hope it will."

"Then we'll just have to see you when the war is over," Kyle replied. "'Cause there ain't any way in hell that I'm going to side with the Empire."

"My sentiments exactly, Katarn," Anakin murmured quietly enough for only Obi-Wan to hear him.

* * *

Padmé could barely believe that the Senate, while having finally decided which side to support in the Rebellion/Empire conflict, was leaning towards siding with the Empire. It was preposterous, and after the announcement was made, she was going to give the Chancellor hell about it. For now, she just listened to the Senator from some planet she'd never heard of called something like the name of that one lion from some children's holovid. 

"My planet, Mustafar, has been allied with the Empire for quite some time. As such, the group occasionally requests that we speak for them in the Senate. Of course, we feel obligated to agree to their requests and speak for them." The Senator, some guy named Sage Pestage, Padmé thought, sighed dramatically. _This guy really needs some acting lessons_, Padmé decided.

"Unfortunately, today, I bring some bad news to the Senate from my esteemed colleagues in the Empire. They have been in possession of a space station which would have been their base. It was just recently completed. However, the Rebellion saw it as a threat, as something it was not. Because of their misunderstanding, they attacked the space station without provocation and destroyed it.

"As most of you can imagine, the Empire is very distraught over this, and as a consequence, they would like the support of the Senate to assist in the capture of the Rebels involved and the disbandment of the Rebellion. Any moral Senator can see the wrongness of the Rebellion, and I implore you to side with the Empire and condemn the Rebellion for their unprecedented use of wanton violence." The Senator sat back down.

"The Senate is now open for debate," the Chancellor announced. Padmé, always having been quick on the draw managed to get the first word in after Senator Pestage. "The floor recognizes Senator Amidala of Naboo."

"Senator Pestage, you are, on behalf of the Rebellion, accusing the Rebel Alliance of destroying a space station. I wonder what you mean by 'without provocation.' I may be being skeptical, but you have given very few details. What sort of space station was this? Where did the battle occur? What was the battle like? Approximately how many casualties were suffered on either side?" Padmé demanded.

Pestage smiled cooly and answered Padmé's questions with just a hint of arrogance. "The battle occurred in a system called Yavin, named after the largest planet in the system. I am unaware of the way the battle happened, but there were grievous casualties on the side of the Empire. Their premeditated attack was very well planned."

Padmé managed to keep herself from glaring at Pestage. She knew that the Rebel base was in the Yavin system, but if she said that, then she would be pegged as a Rebel. Pestage, on the other hand, was obviously an Imperial. "You didn't answer my question, Senator. What type of space station was it? Was it mobile or stationary?"

Pestage glared at her. Apparently he was smart enough to know the consequences of saying it was mobile. "It was to be a base, as I said. As to the mobility issue, I was not given exact details on the station itself."

"What was it called, then?" Padmé pressed. Maybe the Senate would remember the outburst of the Senator calling herself Carrie. "You seem to know less important information than that, so you should know that. But, if I recall, Yavin is a gas giant. If the station was stationary, then the Empire would have to ship in a great deal of supplies, and I've heard that they don't exactly have a lot of monetary resources."

Garm stood, waited to be recognized by the speaker, and backed Padmé up. "Senator Amidala has a point. Yavin is a system far away from any of the supplies needed to build a space station. The shipping and assembly would be a momentous job, so it would most likely have to be mobile. However, if it was mobile, how would the Rebellion know where it was going to be? It sounds to me as if this space station was recently built, so there would be no pattern of travel for it."

Pestage turned to Garm. "Are you saying that the battle was in fact provoked? Just because the space station has mobility?"

Garm nodded. "I am saying that. After all, what if this Yavin system was actually the location of the Rebellion's headquarters? You yourself said that this space station is a base. If it's a mobile base belonging to the Empire, then wouldn't it be considered an aggressive action by the Rebels if the Empire were to take the station into the system where the Rebel headquarters are located?"

From Garm's accusation, the discussion on the Senate floor quickly deteriorated, and after an hour of it, a recess was called. Padmé was glad to get out of her seat and talk to Garm and Mon. After locating them, the three found a private room to discuss what was happening. Padmé collapsed into one of the chairs. "Oh, this is a disaster!"

"You got that right," Garm added.

"It may not be all that bad, Padmé," Mon mentioned. "Your performances in the Senate chamber may have been enough for the Senate to come to no conclusion about the disturbance."

Padmé sighed. "I just don't know if it was enough. Many Senators dislike the Rebellion already, and this might take enough more over the edge. Then we'd be called conspirators against the Republic and potentially arrested, not that I'm afraid of that."

"Do you want to know what actually happened?" Mon asked. "Bail called us as soon as the battle had ended."

Padmé nodded. "Of course. I know Pestage is lying through his teeth, but Leia was supposed to be around there, too."

Garm grinned. "No need to worry about her. She's perfectly fine. You have no clue how relieved Bail sounded when he called. I think he's been afraid of your husband going nuclear on him."

"I can imagine that," Padmé replied.

"Regardless, the Death Star entered the Yavin system surprisingly close to Yavin 4, and Bail barely had enough time to send everyone out," Mon began. "So, he had the Corellian smuggler whom Leia had hired to take her to Yavin to take Leia off the planet. The battle which ensued over the battle station cost us a lot of personnel, but it was worth it. The smuggler came back when we were at one of our last wings and shot a group of TIEs off the lone X-wing who was making the run to destroy the station. He did, and the Death Star was destroyed. The smuggler, his copilot, and the pilot of the X-wing are all getting medals for their bravery."

"I'm glad," Padmé said, smiling.

Garm grinned again, and was about to say something, but the chime that meant that the recess was over sounded over the speakers in the building. All of the Senators filed back into the Senate hall. The Chancellor started speaking again. "Senators, Senator Pestage has called for a vote to see whether the Rebellion should be viewed as what it is called: a rebellion. If so, Senator Pestage has provided me with some of the Empire's requests, which will be made mandates by the Republic. If there is not sufficient support of the Empire's pleas to the Senate, then the Empire shall receive no aid, and the Rebellion will stay at it's current status." The votes were cast by secret ballot, and the results were displayed on the Chancellor's post. Padmé could only wait in silence as the voting took place. Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, the Chancellor spoke once more. "The Senate has voted, and the results are 49.9 percent to 50.1 percent in favor of supporting the Empire." The Chancellor quieted the Senate down again as there was a loud reaction to the outcome of the ballot. He began to talk again once the Senate was quiet enough. "The requests the Empire has made are to be put into action immediately. The Rebel Alliance is to be treated as a rebellion. As such, all those in the Rebellion are now wanted by the Galactic Republic for treason. The Empire is offering rewards for the capture of the leaders as well as any high ranking officer and, of course, those responsible for the destruction of the space station. The Jedi will be contacted about the tracking down of the Rebellion. The Senate is dismissed."

* * *

_ Reviews:_

_**SuperBlonde**: Thanks. I really couldn't help but add that to the story. It always makes Mara a more interesting character. I particularly enjoyed writing Padmé__'s thoughts on Anakin's state of mind and his exile._

_**Jas-theMAddTexan**: Thank you for reviewing!_

_**Yuna-flowering**: Thanks you for reviewing! It's okay you didn't review for the last chapter, but I don't think Luke and Leia will connect the dots for quite a while (it has to do with what I have planned for the next few chapters)._

_**JadeAlmasy**: Thanks very much for reviewing!_

_** Elisia Kenobi**: Thanks! I'm glad you like this almost as much as FAH! In other news, yes, that elusive question... He's going to find out ...soon-ish. Maybe later. I'd say later than sooner. There's a lot of plot to cover before then._

**_cyndur_**_: Thanks for reviewing both chapters four and five! I'm glad to know that you enjoy the plot and character development. I really appreciate it. Plus, the villains are fun to write about. According to my notes, the Sith are to act Sithy next chapter, so expect some more villain stuff._

**_ nascar girl/jedi-princess_**_: Thanks for reviewing and coming back for the sequel! Feel free to ask about anything you want. I might have left some plot holes, and I'd appreciate any feedback on those or just plain confusing things. I'll keep up the good work (since there is no try).  
_


	7. Sith Happens, AWOL, and Going Postal

_Hello everyone. Long time no see. I actually have a decent excuse this time for taking so long, but I had hand surgery on Monday and have been writing ever since, so it's besides the point. To make it up to you, I've written an extra long chapter, which is actually part of the reason this took so long. You see, I had it all planned out, but I just never got around to writing it all. The typing is actually helping me with my wrist stuff, so yeah. Be warned: I have been on pain medicine for the past three days, so quite a bit of this might sound a little goofy. I found it funny though. I make some references to movies in this, but since some people didn't like me breaking of the suspension of belief in "Fixing A Hole," I tried to change the titles as much as I could. There was something else... Oh yeah. It sort of seems like I'm bashing West Side Story at one point, but I'm not. Really. That's my favorite musical. That's why Han has problems with it. See? I rant much while on... lesse I think the medication's called darvoset. It makes me all laughy. Well, anyways, as usual, thank you oh so very muchness for reading this thingy. I really, really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy this ginormous twenty page long while single spaced chapterish thingy. Wheeeee.  
**  
Edit: I noticed some grievous errors on my part while reading this over, so I fixed them. Some were math errors, other were countinuity errors, and others were errors in logic. There was also an error in an idiom. This is what you get for taking an SAT prep class. I deleted a line, too. Anyway, enjoy the cleaned up version.**_

* * *

When Mara woke up, she was surprised to find herself in the hospital wing of the Jedi Temple. Sure, she had blacked out, but it wasn't that serious. Was it? Mara groaned as she realized she had a headache. "Nurse?" she called out, trying to get someone to talk to so she could find out how long she'd been unconscious. _I hope I've only been out for a few hours..._

Someone came over almost immediately, but she wasn't someone Mara was expecting. "Mara... You know you shouldn't be running around the Jedi Temple, eventually running into the Jedi Council. You've caused quite a bit of trouble."

Mara glared at the speaker before taking her pillow and putting it over her face. "Go away, Mother. I'm not in the mood for World War Three."

"Now, Mara," her mother, Celes, said. "I know you might normally act like this and get away with it, but when you become unconscious for days---"

"Days!" Mara exclaimed, sitting up. "What do you mean, 'days'? I thought I'd only been out for a few hours!"

"And you've missed tons of stuff!" Celes exclaimed right back. "We now have to fight against the Rebellion, which, I might add, is the only side worth fighting on anymore."

"...Where's the Corellian and Katarn or Teneniel? I thought they'd be here to annoy me to no end," Mara asked, trying to change the subject.

Celes paused. "Teneniel Djo and Allya Harkon are off on a mission with Aayla, looking for the Rebel Alliance's base. Corran Halcyon and Kyle Katarn joined the Rebellion, along with some of their friends, and, as such, are now enemies of the Republic... and the Jedi, unfortunately."

"Why...? Why are the Jedi against the Rebellion? The Empire is commanded by the Dark Lords of the Sith!" Mara shook her head. "None of this makes any sense."

"Mara, you must understand. The Jedi are the servants of the Republic. We cannot just---If anyone at all had _definitive_ proof that the Empire was under the command of the Sith, then there is little to no doubt that the Senate would call back their most recent piece of legislation."

"But no one can come up with it, can they?" Mara realized. "The only ones that could would be the Imperials, the Rebels, or the Jedi, all groups of which have compromised integrity now, since Corran and Kyle ran off to join the Rebels."

"Anakin's children, too," Celes added. "Of course, it was only a matter of time before they went off and joined the Rebellion."

"Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ," Mara stated drily.

"Yes, but I'd say the fools are the majority in the matter at hand," Celes replied. "Your father said that you had been talking to Anakin about something before you passed out? Another vision?"

"It's nothing; nothing that could be used to prove the Empire evil, anyway," Mara said angrily. "It's just---" She gave in. There was no use trying to hide things since she was in the most concentrated place of Jedi in the galaxy, in addition to both of her parents being part of the Order. "Palpatine's back. That's what was in the vision. That, and the proof that Palpatine's a sick, sadistic monster, along with his 'glorious' Empire."

Celes stared at her daughter. "And that's what made you pass out?"

Mara shook her head. "No, telling Masters Skywalker and Kenobi about it made me pass out... and there was this voice. When I was asleep, I mean."

"What did it say?" Celes queried.

"It said..." Mara tried to remember, but the voice came back. _YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER._ "I---I can't remember," she lied. It would be best to keep that secret.

"That's all right," Celes said. "If you remember, tell me or, if it's important enough, tell the Council."

Mara nodded. "Okay... Wait. What about Dad?"

"Your father just got called up for his term for being on the Council," Celes replied. "And, like anyone who has ever sat through a meeting knows, there is no end to the complaining. He's making Anakin look like the least whiny person in the universe."

"Wow." That really was an awesome feat.

* * *

On Mustafar, the tone of the newest meeting was less than somber. The Sith Lords were quite amused that the Death Star had been destroyed, and most of the Imperials were very glad that Tarkin had bit the dust. Almost all of the Imperials were present at that time, excluding Isard (who was still contributing by comlink) and the Emperor. The currently nameless Dark Lord was giving his full report. "After the late Grand Moff Tarkin decided that there was no way that the Death Star would be destroyed, he sent me and six squadrons of TIEs out to combat the Rebel forces. Four of the six squadrons were completely destroyed, and the other two suffered minor casualties. The Rebels lost three complete squadrons, had minor casualties in two others, and two pilots survived from one squadron. Of those two, one of the X-wings is in dry dock and the other destroyed the Death Star." 

Grand Admiral Thrawn, who had arrived at the same time as the Sith and General Grievous, looked slightly amused by the logistics report. "What happened to the other two TIE squadrons?"

The Dark Lord turned to him. "They were destroyed in the blast. I escaped because my TIE Advanced had been clipped by one of the two other TIEs in the trench before it crashed into the trench wall. That caused the TIE Advanced to spin out of control away from the Death Star. I was able to go into hyperspace after I regained control. If any of the TIEs did survive, then they probably were captured by the Rebels or self-destructed since they lack hyperdrives and would not want to be captured."

Grievous coughed for the twelfth time this meeting (Thrawn and Isard had been counting). "Do you have any information about the pilot?" he questioned.

The Dark Lord shook his head. "No," he replied. "All I know is that he is a Jedi, most likely only partially trained."

"You're lying," Xizor said. "Your tone of voice implies that."

"And what do you propose instead, Xizor? That I know who destroyed the Death Star? How would I know that?"

"How did you know not to stay on the Death Star?" Xizor shot back. "Or are you going to write that off as something you sensed from the Force?"

"I agree with Prince Xizor," Count Dooku said. "It is questionable to why you decided to go out in a TIE fighter and shoot down the Rebels yourself. The other TIE pilots could have done that job just as well. However, I would like to know how much of a threat you think this Jedi apprentice could be."

"...We should ask the Emperor that question," Maul said. "He has many visions and would know better."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Maul," Ventress hissed.

"Quit squabbling," Dooku told the two. "It's useless and just takes up time." He turned back to the as of yet unidentified Dark Lord. "How much of a threat do you think this Jedi pilot could be?"

The Dark Lord shrugged. "He's either completely irrelevant, like we are considering most of the Jedi, or he'll cause our downfall. In my professional opinion, it's most likely the latter of the two options."

"That's reassuring and incredibly helpful," Ventress quipped. "On that same line of thought, he'll probably be the one to take down the Emperor?"

The Dark Lord smirked. "No. I have a strange feeling that Anakin Skywalker will accomplish that if it ever does indeed happen." He paused and changed the subject. "Prince Xizor, how is your business doing?"

"Good. The Black Sun already has managed to put into effect the cause the future destruction of the Bounty Hunter's Guild. Boba Fett was more than willing to help with the cause, albeit he was not aware he was under someone else's orders besides the... contact he met with," Xizor replied, careful not to mention the Assembler.

"Clever, but I doubt that the bounty hunters will be of much use to us," the Dark Lord replied. "They are useful from time to time, but the only useful one is Boba Fett."

"I sincerely doubt that. The elimination of the Guild will cause the weaker bounty hunters to be weeded out, leaving only the strong ones. The strong ones are the bounty hunters which will be of use," Xizor casually replied to defend his position yet again.

"And what will we use the bounty hunters for perchance?" the Sith asked. "In all seriousness, the only people with which we could use the bounty hunters is with the Rebel High Command, and the Jedi should be our priority at the moment. The longer they live, the more time it will take us to rid the galaxy of them forever and establish our regime."

Dooku nodded. "He has a point. The bounty hunters are nothing compared to the Jedi. Jango Fett lasted for a while at Geonosis, but he fell at the hands of a Jedi, and he was called the best."

Xizor formulated the perfect defense. "Fine, I do admit that the bounty hunters are useless against many Jedi, but, as our esteemed colleague said, they would be useful against the Rebels. I agree completely with his rationale, and maybe we should concentrate on the Jedi soon, but we do need to deal with the Rebels somewhat during the time we eliminate the Jedi."

"You are assuming that the Jedi can be wiped out," Thrawn commented. Everyone in the room turned to stare at him. "Our resources are not enough to kill all of the Jedi in an assault. Even if all the Sith and Dark Jedi in this room were to pull off an all-out assault on the Jedi Temple, I doubt that you would all walk out unscathed or alive. Remember how different the situation is now compared to the situation of the Clone Wars."

The Dark Lord nodded in agreement. "The Grand Admiral is correct. The Jedi are different now, and the situation of the galaxy is different: it is at relative peace. Would I be correct in guessing that your next suggestion be to go after the Rebels and gain power in not only the Senate but militarily as well?" he asked Thrawn.

"Yes. If we captured one of the shipyards, then we can start building ships. The power in the Senate is growing, thanks to the destruction of the Death Star and the Emperor's scheming. The Empire should have enough men to man the ships, whatever kind they may be, and possibly have the Republic military joined with the Empire's, eventually. We can have the people's attention centered on our vengeance on the Rebellion while we capture a shipyard. Personally, I suggest Bilbringi." Thrawn looked around the room. "Any suggestions, comments, or questions?"

"Where will we attack first?" Zsinj asked. "I think your plan should be put into action, but we do need a Rebel target to attack. Since Yavin 4 is the location of their main base, then why don't we go there?"

Isard's holo shook her head. "Not if we want a public relations disaster. The Senate almost voted against the Empire when Senators Bel Ibis and Amidala suggested that we were the aggressors, not that we weren't, but if they had been able to offer up definitive proof, then our operation would have been sunk." Isard paused. "Of course, they did have the information, since they are two of the ringleaders of the Rebellion."

Grievous coughed (_Thirteenth time_, Isard noted). "That doesn't matter. We can explain that away with the following: After the Death Star was destroyed, the Rebels set up a base at Yavin. Our intelligence would have 'discovered' this piece of evidence shortly after the Battle of Yavin. We decide that now is as good a time as ever to exact our revenge. We go; we see; we conquer. The best part is that we can even fake a team 'discovering' the information while 'searching' for survivors which probably are not there."

"General Grievous makes a good point," Dooku had to admit. "The Republic would completely fall for that. However, we can't hide behind Pestage forever. We need a political figurehead. I won't do because of my participation in the Clone Wars, and the rest of us Sith (and Ventress) would be too recognizable to the Jedi as 'evil.' Isard, do you have any ideas whilst we wait for the Emperor to come out of hiding?"

Isard thought for a moment. "We cannot risk using any of the admirals or generals or any of the Sith. If the general or admiral was needed at a military engagement, he might be occupied on Coruscant with politics and politicians. Xizor is the head of the most well-known criminal syndicate in the galaxy, so he's off the list. The Moffs are already in the Senate, gathering support, and no one would take me seriously because of my age." She paused. "I see no alternative to using Pestage as our front until the Emperor returns."

"That political aspect doesn't matter at the moment, anyway. We need to plan out our attacks," the anonymous Dark Lord reminded those sitting at the table. "We also need to decide which information will be released to the public. For example, we simply cannot have Grievous leading the attack on Yavin 4. Even I am aware that that would be a complete and total public relations nightmare." People around the table murmured their agreement. "It would also be unwise to allow the Rebellion to know that Grand Admiral Thrawn is present with us until the last moment possible, so we shouldn't have him _leading_ the attacks but _planning _them."

"I completely agree," Thrawn commented. "If the Rebellion knew of me, then they would most likely run in fear, but I would need accurate and up to date intel about who commands which ships in what engagements."

The Dark Lord nodded. "Of course. I would suggest that you would lead the attack on the shipyards. You have an incredible knack for capturing targets as unharmed as possible, maybe even as thought impossible."

"That leaves Zsinj to lead the attack on Yavin," Thrawn stated, then continued. "Another option is to get a relatively unknown captain in our ranks to lead the space battle from a Star Destroyer. We might also need ground forces, so a general would be needed as well. I will have to search for the crew for my battle group as well."

"I'll go get the lists," Grievous decided and coughed again.

* * *

After the meeting was adjourned, Dooku, Maul, and Ventress were walking down the hallway, discussing the future of the Empire. Molten lava was spraying in the background, in front of the shields and windows looking outside. The topic of discussion was suddenly switched from the Empire to the mysterious third Dark Lord. It seemed to Dooku that the Sith was the only thing that Ventress and Maul agreed about anything on. Dooku just tried to block out the whole conversation until Ventress asked his opinion on the matter. Surprised, Dooku decided to answer. "I don't trust him. There is something that makes me uneasy about him. Not the sort of uneasy feeling one would get just being around a Dark Lord, but it's a feeling that something is not quite right about him." 

Maul nodded. "I sense too much light in him. That light that is left may be keeping him on the Dark Path, I must say."

"I feel he will be the end of us," Ventress added. "Almost as if he will cause our doom. That thought in and of itself is preposterous, though. He will not be turning any time soon, nor will he betray us more than you would expect from a Sith."

"He says nothing about his own circumstances," Dooku noted. "I wonder when he was Sidious' apprentice. Maul, do you know of there being anyone before you?"

Maul shook his head. "No. There was no one before me. How can we be sure he was even trained by Master Sidious? He could have been brought here from the distant past when there were many Sith."

Ventress narrowed her eyes. "No. He cannot be from the past. He knows the strategies and abilities of Thrawn and the current technology too well."

"Are you saying that he's from the future?" Maul demanded.

"That is exactly what I'm saying!" Ventress hissed. "How else could he have known... He knew that the Death Star could have been destroyed, yet he didn't eliminate the threat. He betrayed Tarkin and let all of those soldiers go to their doom!"

"Treachery is the way of the Sith," Dooku reminded Ventress. "He probably had a motive for doing so, and it probably had to do with the one that destroyed the Death Star."

Maul nodded slowly and somewhat unsurely. "He had said that the Jedi _could_ bring about our destruction, as if he didn't know either."

Ventress rolled her eyes. "It could also mean that he does know and was referring to only some of us!"

Dooku paused, a realization suddenly hitting him. "He could also mean that we will potentially have another ally eventually."

"Or that we'd just all get killed and the Empire would be completely destroyed," Maul replied, always the optimist.

* * *

The Rebel command center was a mess. They had just finished up with the party celebrating the destruction of the Death Star and were in the clean up stages. Unfortunately for Bail Organa, he had to simultaneously clean up the mess with the other military commanders while they discussed the location of their next base. Mon, Garm, and Padmé had contacted him earlier to tell him that the Senate now supported the Empire. In Bail's mind, the idea (in theory, definitely not in practice) was laughable, but that also meant that the Empire would be coming back to Yavin 4 to drop the heavy end of the hammer on the Rebellion. Hence why they were cleaning and talking at the same time. 

Leia, who had managed to talk her way into the Rebellion, was cleaning up all of the glass bottles around the room. "I think we should not bother with this," she decided. "I mean, if we are going to leave soon, then why not leave a mess for the Imperials to clean up?"

Bail sighed. "Leia, think about the reaction in the Senate that would produce!"

"You have a point, but I'm just saying that maybe there is an easier way to do this?"

General Dodonna restarted his argument. "We do need to evacuate as soon as possible. Our intelligence reports have said that there is to be an Imperial attack in a matter of days. We should leave the area as soon as possible."

Winter, who was picking up paper materials, spoke. "Possible new locations for a base are the following: Laitnetop, Citenik, Ygoloh'tym (which is in the same system as Yranoit'cid, a trade center where we could easily acquire supplies), Dantooine, Acceberan, Magantooine, Nesrohba---"

"That's enough to choose from," Dodonna said. "We can eliminate Dantooine from the list right away. We haven't vacated that base long enough to throw the Empire off our trail there. Also, Acceberan, while suitably remote, is a little too close to the Unknown Regions for us to get supplies shipped there easily, and if we were able to do so, it would cost a fortune to accomplish that and draw unwanted attention to us."

Leia thought for a minute. "Magantooine... Where have I heard that name before...?"

"You know, it does sound vaguely familiar," Bail admitted.

Winter searched her memory. "I do believe that Jedi Masters Kenobi and Skywalker went to Magantooine on a mission a year ago."

"Then we're not going there," Leia decided. "I heard enough of what happened, and trust me, it wasn't a pretty picture."

"Laitnetop is not known for its kindness to strangers and is generally very supportive of anything the Senate decrees," Bail remarked, scratching another planet off the list.

"Nesrohba broke into a civil war about a week ago," Dodonna remembered. "We could risk it, but I think the Republic said they would give aid."

"That leaves Citenik and Ygoloh'tym," Winter reported. "Citenik is closer, but Ygoloh'tym is closer to Imperial space. That is also the most logical place to go because of its proximity to Imperial space (it would be easy to conduct raids), but the command seems to have changed recently, and I think that the new commanders would expect that."

"Why do you say that, Winter?" Leia asked. "I mean, the Death Star battle was definitely the biggest conflict so far, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they have had a change in leadership."

Winter blinked. "Well, Princess, that's just the point. They have never tried anything this daring before. We knew of the battle station, but our reports said that there were still some kinks in the system. They needed someone with more daring to order the attack with the station so untested."

"What is the difference between the distances of Citenik and Ygoloh'tym from Yavin?" Bail asked.

"There is a parsec difference," Winter calculated.

"Then Citenik it is," Leia decided, smiling. No one disagreed.

* * *

The hyperspace journey from the Yavin system to Citenik was rather trying for some of the occupants of the Rebel command ship. The reason was Princess Leia. _Her_, Bail amended, _and that darn smuggler._ The two had been arguing with one another for three hours straight, as reported by Flight Officer Antilles. Everyone on the bridge could hear the argument even though the two were outside the blast doors. Bail personally thought that someone had forgotten to turn off a comlink between the corridor and the bridge. 

"Uh, sir? Doncha think someone should calm them down?" Antilles asked, with good reason: most of the crewers now had earplugs on, and since this was a military operation, that was very bad news.

Bail sighed. "Yes, maybe you should. And, just to let you know, the High Command had already given Lieutenant Skywalker permission to form a squadron, so please stop asking."

"Sorry, Senator Organa," Wedge replied with a grin and scurried off to try and keep Han and Leia from killing each other. Luckily, he didn't have to go far to find them. They were actually standing right outside. The intercom was on, hence why the conversation could be heard on the bridge. "Uh... Guys?"

Leia ignored Wedge and continued to yell at Han. "You know you could have left by now! I already directed the money to your account!"

"Well, Princess, I unfortunately _was_ hired to take you back to Coruscant, but now that you're obviously not going back, I figured I should have stayed behind to make sure I got paid for the time that I did spend waiting for the Death Star to blow up!" Han yelled back at her. Wedge didn't think that Solo was being completely truthful about his motive for staying.

"The entire ship can hear your conversation," Wedge informed them.

"And furthermore, Solo," Leia, completely ignoring Wedge's comment, continued to yell at Han, causing Wedge to go over and turn off the intercom. "You really need an attitude adjustment! You're so egotistical---"

"_I_ need the attitude adjustment? Yeah, right, Your Highnessness," Han shot back.

Wedge was about to interfere again when he noticed Luke walking vaguely in the direction of Han and Leia, reading something on a datapad. Meaning, of course, that Luke had no clue what he was about to walk into. Wedge, being the good friend that he is (and feeling somewhat like pulling one of Janson's jokes at the moment), said nothing to Luke.

Luke didn't realize that he was walking into a virtual minefield until Han and Leia's "conversation" started to include him. "Luke! What do you think!" they demanded.

"What's going on?" Luke asked hesitantly, finally looking up from the datapad. "Why are you two fighting again?" Han and Leia were about to give completely different answers, but Luke cut them off. "Never mind---I don't want to know." He turned to Leia. "What do you know about this planet we're going to?"

Leia forgot all about the argument with Han and thought about the question. "Citenik? Not much, I have to admit. It's a pretty secluded place, perfect for a base, but it is an inhabited planet with a couple of spaceports."

"That's all the ship's computer said," Luke said. "Almost no one had heard of it."

"I've heard of it," Han remarked. "It's known to smugglers. One of the best places to hide from whatever's after you. The terrain is mostly mountainous with habitable valleys here and there. Generally, when a smuggler hides there, it's to avoid their employers, but when you are hiding from the Republic, the terrain will cause the cops to back off."

"What about the Jedi?" Leia asked. "Do they ever---"

Han shook his head. "Nah. Whoever goes there doesn't exactly merit the attention of the Jedi. Plus, when the Jedi are after you, you go to Myrkr."

"What's so weird about Myrkr?" Wedge asked. "I mean, it's always spoken of as---Hey, if the Jedi are going to be after us now, why not go there instead?"

"Wedge, 1. Myrkr's flora and fauna aren't exactly people friendly, and 2. then we'd be acting like what the Republic accuses us of being," Luke replied.

"You forget, we are, under law, traitors now," Han mentioned. "Sorry, _you_, not me."

"You know Solo, you are so..." Leia was searching for a word. "Conceited!"

"I bet that she was going to say something worse than that," Wedge commented quietly enough that Leia didn't hear. Luke nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Princess, I find that one of my more endearing qualities," Han replied.

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, the Rebels finally arrived at Citenik to find it a little more mountainous than Han had described. Wedge had described it as a deathtrap made of stone. Leia had pronounced it perfect. The Rebel base had been set up near the northern pole of the planet for various (and somewhat strange) reasons. About a month after the Rebellion had settled into its new headquarters, some new recruits (A.K.A. the Rogues and Kyle Katarn) joined up with the Rebellion, much to Wedge and Luke's semi-dismay since it meant they had to go back to avoiding all of Wes' pranks on a regular basis. Shortly after that, there was a decree issued that said that no one was allowed to steal all of the anchovies. Most of the High Command had no clue why anyone would do that, or for that matter, who would do that. It was obvious to those who knew him that Wes was the perpetrator, but there was no formal prosecution when that information was leaked. No one missed the anchovies anyway, and those that did bought some off of Wes. 

The Rebels were doing all right for a while, excluding the weekly (daily) fights of Han and Leia. But, all in all, life was good for being part of a military organization trying to get rid of another military organization, which is evil, and convince the legitimate government that they, the Rebels, were the good guys. Unfortunately, even after half a year after Yavin, the Rebellion was still being hunted down by the Republic. Luckily, no Rebel had yet run into a Jedi who was looking for the base on the command of the Republic and Empire, and few in the Senate even suspected Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, or Garm Bel Ibis to be in any way connected with the Rebellion. Padmé, on the other hand, had been accused several times, but no one could prove her involvement or dared to try (Anakin still had an unfortunate anger management problem and was liable to Force grip someone if they even suggested bringing harm to Padmé).

Because of what they had heard had happened to the old base at Yavin, the High Command had picked out a replacement base in case Citenik was ever attacked. In theory, only they knew the location of the back up base, and since Princess Leia had taken part in the discussion, Rogue Squadron knew of the vague location of the new base and shared that intel with the entire Rebellion, meaning that the Rebels all hoped that they wouldn't have to leave Citenik any time soon. Frozen wasteland planets tended to mean bad things.

Shortly after the decision for choosing another base, the Bothan spies in the employ of the Rebellion discovered that the Empire had taken over the shipyards at Bilbringi. That meant that the Empire now was manufacturing even more weapons of war while the Rebellion had to get second hand dreadnaughts from planetary defense forces and buy medical frigates through dummy corporations. A definite plus was that Corellia was part of the Rebellion, but you can only have so many blockade runners. Diplomats ended up being sent to the Sullust system in order to try and acquire more potential shipyards for the Rebellion.

Eventually, the mission that most had been dreading came up: the establishment of the base on the bleak and frosty ice ball. No one outside of the High Command knew what system said ice ball was in nor what it was called, but just that it was a "frozen hell." Since the Rogues, mainly Wes, had spread the information, they were sent on the scouting mission which was to be the precursor to the establishing mission. Because Leia had been taking excessive pleasure in the misfortune of her friends, she was sent on the mission as well. Not wanting to be stuck with only the Rogues in a transport for a couple of days, Leia then recruited Han for the job of transporting them all. Fortunately for Han, that meant that only five of the Rogues could come on the trip. Those who had joined the squadron after the rumor spreading incident did not have to go and neither did Corran, who managed to weasel his way out of that situation by going on a commando mission with Jan Ors and Kyle prior to the mandate issued by the higher ups. The five Rogues that were picked for the mission were either partially or completely guilty of spreading the information, meaning that Luke, Wedge, Tycho, Hobbie and Wes were destined to be stuck for a few days in the _Falcon_ with Han and Leia arguing up a storm and Chewie locking himself in the cockpit.

* * *

"So what are we supposed to be doing here again?" Hobbie asked for the tenth time since they had landed on Hoth. He was covered head to toe in multicolored and garishly bright emergency blankets in addition to the parka he had brought. Han, who had not been as shrewd in his choice of clothing, was, as a consequence, wearing his normal outfit. Han was not complaining, either. He was trying to set up camp. 

Wes had been more eccentric than Hobbie in his choice of clothing, which by some people, one of whom happened to be named Leia, was thought impossible. Not only had Wes outdone Hobbie in the strange attire factor by using the bright orange emergency blankets he had brought to make a toga, but he was wearing his flight suit (also bright orange) and used the only white blanket as a cape and hat. In a word, Wes Janson looked ridiculous. "I think we're supposed to shovel enough snow away for a landing strip."

Wedge rolled his eyes. He had dressed sensibly, in both potential meanings of the word. Sure, most of the clothing was Alliance issue, but who cared? It did keep him warm. "Wes, if we were supposed to do that, do you think they would have assigned _us_?"

"No, not really. Unless this is all just a punishment that the High Command concocted for us spreading the information that we were probably going to be stationed on a frozen hell next time, instead of an ultra-cool planet where if you walk in the wrong direction, you can fall off a cliff onto some nasty looking spikes a few hundred yards down." Wes paused. "Then again, this could be the actual place that we're going to have our next base anyway."

"And if not, you probably just doomed us to be stuck here because you told everyone!" Hobbie exclaimed. Tycho, who was helping Han and was standing right next to Hobbie, noticed that the snow reflected the colors of the blankets, so he tried to ignore the progressively pointless conversation between the ridiculous one and the insane one.

"You know, Wes, that if you hadn't been eavesdropping on the conversation between me and Leia, we wouldn't be in this situation," Luke pointed out. He, like Wedge, was wearing the regulation outfit, but unlike Wedge, Luke was freezing. He had no clue why, nor did he care. Personally, he thought it was rather unfair that Leia got to stay inside the _Falcon _while the rest of them set up camp.

"Luke's right," Tycho decided. "This is all your fault, Wes, but it was worth it." Shortly after Tycho said that, Han finished setting up the tent. Why they had set up a tent in the middle of a frozen tundra with a nice, warm spaceship right next to it was beyond Tycho, but he had a feeling that Han just wanted some peace and quiet, even if that meant staying outside in the freezing cold to avoid Wes's wit and Hobbie's incessant complaining.

"How is _this_ worth anything?" Han demanded, gesturing to the landscape. "All I see is snow, snow, more snow, a rock or two, and some fracking ice!" Han was not having a good day. He was cold and stuck on a planet with the Rogues, and therefore subjected to a type of torture that he wouldn't ever wish on an enemy. Han looked at the scene before him again. Luke was freezing, Wedge wanted to leave, Wes wouldn't stop talking, Hobbie wouldn't stop complaining, and Tycho was watching with an amused look on his face. Leia and Chewie were inside, doing who knows what. _Never mind, I'm suggesting that the next Imp spy we catch be assigned to working with the Rogues for a week,_ Han thought. _They'd sure as hell crack a lot more quickly than under methods deemed "cruel and unusual." Not that this isn't... but the High Command doesn't know that._

"Han!" Luke exclaimed, visibly shivering. "You shouldn't think stuff like that!" Han rolled his eyes. Luke said he wasn't going to read anyone's mind. "You were broadcasting that!" Luke defended himself. "Besides, that would be deemed 'cruel and unusual'!"

"'Cruel and unusual' punishment? That sounds interesting; what are you referring to?" Wes asked, more interested than he should be. Tycho tried to keep from laughing and failed, but he managed to muffle the sound by wrapping the scarf he was wearing tighter.

"I can guess," Wedge murmured. He continued more loudly, "Well, now what do we do? We've set up 'camp'... What exactly are we supposed to do on this scouting mission? Find a suitable cave for the Rebellion to hide in?"

Luke, who had actually read the mission objectives, shook his head. "No. The next people that come are supposed to do that. We're just supposed to stay here for a few days to record the climate and whatever lives on this ...planet. Quite frankly, I happen to think that they sent us here to keep us away from the base for a while."

Wes grinned, and everyone in the general vicinity knew that he had a plan. "I have a great idea. Instead of staying here for a week, we leave all the equipment necessary for the meteorological survey and go to Naboo for a vacation. Then, when it's time to go back to base, we come back here, get the equipment, and go back. No one will know any better, and we don't have to stay on this version of the lowest level of hell!"

Everyone outside just stared at Wes. No one wanted to admit that his idea actually sounded very, very good. Compared to Hoth, Naboo was Nirvana. Heck, Hoth made _Tatooine_ seem like Ainrofilac (which has a main export of holodramas and lots of nice, beach front property, but with the unfortunate occurrences of occasional severe droughts and electricity shortages). Finally someone (who happened to be Han) said something. "Good idea. Let's get the hell out of here," he said, dropping the additional parts for the tent.

"I second that," Luke added before sprinting back onto the _Falcon_, which had an average temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit as opposed to the negative something degrees Fahrenheit of the normal temperature of Hoth.

"What took you so long to think of that?" Hobbie demanded of Wes. "We could have been halfway to Naboo by now! And doing something other than watching Han, Tycho, and Wedge set up the tent! We could have been watching 'Dia and Elassar Go To White Skyhook' or 'Neo and Serena's Excellent Adventure'! Or even 'Spaceballs'!"

"Hey, 'Spaceballs' is a good holovid," Tycho said. "And you're forgetting 'Space Pirates of the Corporate Sector' and a whole lot of other films." He paused. "You know, thinking about that, why didn't we watch anything on the way here?"

"We couldn't decide what to watch," Wedge reminded him. "Leia wanted to watch 'East Side Tale,' but Han wanted to watch 'Cataclysm Now.' That was how their first argument started, and then they got too loud to let us to watch anything."

"Sorry about that, but I can't stand musicals," Han apologized. "I mean, sure, some of them I can stand, but 'East Side Tale' doesn't happen to be one of them. Oh, and do you really think we should go to Naboo? They are part of the Rebellion, but that means we have a higher chance of being caught. Why don't we go to Ainrofilac instead?"

"Land of the holovid stars?" Tycho snorted. "Right. Everything there costs a fortune. Starship fuel costs almost double there than what it costs everywhere else in the galaxy."

"We could always just stay here, too," Hobbie told Tycho, "but that doesn't mean that it's a better idea than going to Ainrofilac. I still think we should go to Naboo."

"As much as I would like to go to Ainrofilac," Wedge said. "I do think it would be better to go to Naboo because: A) it's closer, B) that means less fuel consumption, C) that also means less travel time, and D) more time planetside, less time in a spaceship."

"I changed my mind," Han decided. "Let's stay with the going to Naboo idea." With that, they all went back inside the _Falcon_. The first thing to do would be to find Leia and tell her about the plan if Luke hadn't already done so. Han went to go check the cockpit while the Rogues went to the lounge. The Rogues found Leia and, surprisingly, Chewie watching 'East Side Tale' and occasionally singing along with the music. Needless to say, Wes declared himself scarred for life which, combined with the viewing of the holovid, Tycho found amusing. Tycho also noted that Princess Leia had a nice singing voice.

On the other side of the ship, Han was wondering why Luke was in the cockpit. "Kid, what's going on?" Han asked. After getting no response, he asked "You all right?"

Luke stirred and noticed Han. "Oh, hey, Han... I thought you and the others were still outside. You guys ever figure out whether we're actually leaving here or not?"

Han nodded. "Yeah. We're definitely going to Naboo, and we're leaving soon. Did you tell Leia about the plan, or were you waiting for one of us to tell her?"

Luke, still sleepy, stared at Han. "I decided to let Wes handle that. Leia and Chewie are watching that holovid you didn't want to see. I almost decided to watch it with them, but Leia decided to sing along, so I came here and fell asleep, apparently."

"You know how far into the 'vid they were?" Han asked, hoping the holovid was close to the end. "Is it over soon, or do you think we'll have to suffer through most of it?"

Luke thought back. "I dunno. I think it was near the end. I think there was some sort of fight scene about to occur, but that doesn't mean that it was going to---"

"Oh, good. They are near the end," Han affirmed before putting on a concerned look. "...You okay, Kid? You didn't seem all that well outside, but I thought it was just the cold."

Luke smiled. "No, I'm okay. It was just a little too cold out there for me. Maybe I should have stayed in here, though I know that it wouldn't have been fair for me to have---"

"Hey, Luke, if you didn't feel good, then you should have said something. The others and I would have understood," Han told Luke before continuing more lightheartedly, "and, if you had, you probably could've talked Leia out of watching 'East Side Tale'." The comment elicited a grin from Luke.

"I don't know about that, Han. I probably would have just let her choose the holovid. Of course, Leia might have chosen something different, but..." Luke sighed. "Why don't we go see if the holovid's over now? The sooner we talk to her, the sooner we're out of here."

Han thought it over. "Good point. Once we tell her, I'm gonna start prepping the _Falcon_ for takeoff," Han decided. Luke nodded, and they walked back to the lounge. What they found was Wes, Leia, and Chewie singing along to the movie with a very confused Hobbie, an amused Tycho, and Wedge watching the holovid. It was almost over, much to Han's relief. Luke sat down next to Leia because he felt tired. When the movie was over, Han decided to break the news to Leia. "Your Highnessness, Rogue Squadron and I have made an executive decision." Those Rogues still awake (Luke had passed out again) moved in a direction vaguely away from the Princess. "We think that staying on Hoth for an entire week to collect information a droid could collect is completely idiotic, so we're going to Naboo for most of the time we're supposed to be here freezing our asses off."

Leia stared at Han for a good minute. "That sure took you long enough," she said sarcastically. "I'll agree to the idea on one condition."

_I have a bad feeling about this_, Han thought. "What? What condition?"

"No one hears anything about this whatsoever. If anyone at all is told about what we are going to do, I'll deny everything and claim you locked me in the refresher for the duration of the entire trip, and by 'you', I mean you, Han. Maybe Wes, too."

"Uh, Princess, why wouldn't you blame the rest of us?" Tycho asked politely.

Leia blinked. "Well, Tycho, you and Wedge and Hobbie haven't done anything besides Hobbie being painful to look at. And Luke... Well, he's asleep. I wouldn't blame Chewie because he locked himself in the cockpit almost the entire way here."

Wes had a confused look on his face. "Wait, why would you blame me?"

"Because you probably came up with the idea," Leia replied matter-of-factly.

* * *

The _Falcon_ and crew had landed on Hoth about seven days out from Citenik. They were expected to return twenty-five days after they had originally left Citenik. They left Hoth about midday of the first day they were there. It took one and a quarter days to get to Naboo. By Han's calculation, they had seven or eight days to spend on Naboo since they needed eight and a quarter days for the return trip and, at most, a day to survey Hoth and collect the equipment they had left. It had taken a record amount of time for the _Falcon_ to get clearance to land on Naboo. The sunset was very pretty when they arrived. Leia took that time to ask how much more Wes and Han had thought out the plan. The reply came that they hadn't, so Leia ended up taking control of the situation and found them a place to stay. 

What none of the males had expected was for Leia to go waltzing into what was possibly the most expensive hotel on the planet and checking into three rooms with two beds each. What they didn't know was that she was using the credit-card her father had given her to accomplish that feat. Chewie had decided to remain with the _Falcon_ for reasons unspecified under a false pretext. Eventually, it was decided that Han and Tycho would be sharing one of the rooms since they claimed first dibs. Wedge and Luke would be stuck with Wes and Hobbie. Leia, of course, would have her own room.

The first night that they were on Naboo, Wedge had suggested that they have a doctor see Luke, whose condition had only worsened after they had left Hoth. The doctor had diagnosed the disease as something minor and prescribed some medicine for Luke. The sleeping arrangements stayed the same until the afternoon of the first day when Leia fell ill with whatever Luke was sick with, and the Rogues and Han decided to quarantine the two in Leia's room. Unfortunately for Han, that meant that the Rogues that weren't sick went out at night while Han stayed at the hotel with Luke and Leia. Han didn't particularly mind since the medicine that the two were on made them say the funniest things and all Han really had to do was order room service and watch holovids. Leia's room had a nice view, too. There seemed to be a surplus of beautiful places on the planet, as far as Han could tell.

It was currently the night of the second day. Wedge, Wes, Tycho, and Hobbie were out somewhere, probably at a restaurant or cantina. Wedge had offered to stay behind this time, but Han had told him that he didn't mind staying at the hotel, so Wedge had went with the others. Leia had made the executive decision earlier that they would be watching this one fantasy holovid of which Han didn't remember the name. Luke had fallen asleep halfway through the first of the three parts since Han had restricted how much Coca-Cola Luke was allowed to drink. Leia, however, had been on a sugar high for the past few hours and was yet to come down off it. As Han had realized the night before, Leia was funny when she was on medication, especially of the narcotic kind.

Han glanced at Leia, who was laughing madly, before turning back to the screen. They were a little more than two thirds of the way through the second part, and the evil henchmen army was fighting the good guys who were trapped in a stronghold with only one way out: though the opposing army. Leia was still laughing like a lunatic, and Han was somewhat amazed that Luke was able to sleep through the noise Leia was making. "Stupid orcs falling off cliffs!" Leia exclaimed, and Han was pretty sure she was crying because she was laughing so hard. She also fell over in bed. Han started to pity the people in the rooms next door before remembering that Leia had been smart enough to book rooms next to each other, meaning when the others got back, they were to be graced with the crazy laughter that Han had been dealing with for the past few hours.

About four hours of medication-induced laughter later, Leia had finally fallen asleep. Han was somewhat amazed that she had been able to stay conscious (and laughing hysterically) as long as she had and that Luke had been able to remain asleep for the entire time. After grabbing the key to Leia's room and locking the door, Han went back to his and Tycho's room and fell asleep instantly.

Han was awakened in what he hoped was a few hours later when Tycho and the others returned and came into Han's room. "What's going on?" Han asked sleepily.

Wes smiled brightly. "Nothing really. We just wanted to know how the patients are doing. How was it tonight?"

"Leia laughs like a hyena," Han replied concisely, "and Luke fell asleep shortly after you left 'cause I kept the caffeine away from him."

"You look tired," Tycho noticed. "Fall asleep recently?"

Han looked at the clock. It said it was one in the morning. "Five minutes ago," he replied. "Leia decided to watch some fantasy epic which took around nine hours to watch. It ended about twenty times before really finishing. Luke was lucky; he fell asleep at about six thirty. Leia laughed all the way through the holovids, and she laughed harder when stuff got killed. That medication is really making her loopy and giving her a morbid sense of humor."

"I think I'll take over watching them tomorrow," Wedge decided. "It seems like you really need a break, Han."

"Damn straight," Han murmured before falling back to sleep.

The next day, Wedge watched Luke and Leia while Han, Wes, Hobbie, and Tycho went out to explore the planet, or at least the capital city of Theed. While Wedge was watching the two, they were a lot more civil than Han had said. Wedge suspected that Leia had just been acting like a lunatic to get Han to go out. Wedge was about to ask when Leia explained the whole thing while Luke was choosing a holovid to watch.

"Wedge, thanks for staying here at the hotel, but we're really all right... well, for being sick," Leia started. "That whole thing that you probably heard about last night was just really me acting to get Han out to see the city and stuff. I sorta felt really bad that he had to stay and watch us, hence the demented laughter. You can probably still catch up with them."

Wedge shook his head. "No, thanks. I'm fine staying here with you two. Running around a city during a heat-wave isn't exactly my idea of a fun time. Especially if I happen to be following Wes around. The air-conditioning is preferable, and we have room-service."

"He has a point, Leia," Luke added. "Thanks anyway, Wedge."

"You know that the doctor said you'd probably be better by the day before we leave, right?" Wedge asked, looking through the menu for room-service.

Leia nodded. "Yep. I'm okay with it anyway; I've been here tons of times, and a room in a luxury hotel is infinitely better than the frozen ball of ice known as Hoth."

"Wanna watch the ninth Final Fantasy holovid?" Luke asked.

"Geez, that series is like the 'Planet Before Time'!" Wedge exclaimed. "It just keeps going on and on and on... Except that Final Fantasy has, if anything, only gotten better."

Leia thought about it. "Nah. How about the tenth one? I've always liked that one."

"You ever see the seventh?" Wedge asked. "That one's got an awesome story."

Leia shook her head. "I haven't seen it myself, but I've heard from some of my friends that it's a lot darker than the rest of them."

Wedge shrugged. "It is somewhat darker than the rest, but that doesn't detract from the story. Nine is the antithesis of seven. It's a lot more cheerful."

They continued the debate for a while before deciding to just watch all of them in order, but they only reached the sixth before the others came back. However, it was still before dinner at six o'clock (Luke, Leia, and Wedge had started the movie marathon at nine), so everyone decided to eat dinner in Leia's room as they watched the next two movies. Luke fell asleep at the beginning of the eighth one, and Leia fell asleep at the end of the eighth one, so everyone else went back to their respective rooms and watched a holodrama or two before falling asleep themselves.

The next few days were more of the same for Luke and Leia, except that who stayed with them differed from day to day. After Wedge it was Tycho, then Hobbie and Wes. The sixth day they were on Naboo, the others finally decided that it would be all right for Luke and Leia to stay at the hotel by themselves since they were essentially better, but Han was insistent that they stay in bed for another day so they wouldn't relapse.

On the seventh day, Luke was completely better, and Leia figured she was well enough (no one was in the mood to argue with her). The heat wave was over, and Leia ended up giving everyone a tour of the city of Theed. Before then, the others had given themselves a tour of Theed's restaurants and bars, courtesy of whoever paid the bill for Leia's credit card. In the evening, they went to one of the best restaurants in the city. Han and the others had thought she had either given the concierge a bribe or used her political influences to get a table, but they were wrong: she and her parents were always given a table when any one of them was on planet. Dinner was decidedly nice, and Han was glad he had decided to dress better than usual for the occasion, but none of them had gone as far as to wear their dress uniforms.

On their way out of the restaurant, a certain Representative happened to recognize Leia. She told the others to go on ahead and that she would be right out. They did so, and Leia turned around. "Hello, Representative Binks," she said politely and smiling, "I wasn't aware that you were on planet. How have you been doing?"

Jar Jar's facial expression indicated a certain amount of sadness. "Meesa's been doen good, but yousa shouldn't be hereabouts. Da Republic's presence on Naboo's been getten bigger and bigger, and yousa's gone and joined de Allies. Da Rebellion's full of wanted peoples wid giant bounties."

"I know, Jar Jar," Leia replied, "but I can't just sit around and do nothing. My friends are fighting for their lives, and I cannot and will not turn my back on them."

"Meesa know dat, an' yous parents know dat. Yous momma know dat, at least. Yous dad be worried ta death. Hesa been frantic since yousa up 'n' left," Jar Jar replied, shaking his head. "Deys understand, but dat don't make dem less worried."

Leia smiled sadly and nodded as well. "I know, and I feel terrible about it... Jar Jar, could you pass a message on to them? I can't really send them any messages anymore since I could compromise the base's location or a mission, but I feel so guilty."

"Of course meesa will give dem a message from yous. Dey will be muy happy. What do yousa want meesa ta tell dem?" Jar Jar asked.

Leia thought for a moment. "Tell them that I'm fine and tell my dad not to worry: I've got more than enough knights in shining armor to protect me. Tell them that I love them and that I miss them very much, but I can't come back, not yet. There's still too much to do."

Jar Jar put back on his normal wacky smile. "Meesa shall deliver da message meself. Don't worry youself. Everyting be okiedokie." Jar Jar tilted his head. "How long have yousa been here? When be yous departure date?"

Leia blushed. "Well, my friends and I arrived here about six days ago. We're leaving tomorrow. I haven't really been out since Luke and I fell ill with something we picked up on this Force-forsaken planet we were on before we came here. I'm all better now, but could you not tell my dad about that? I don't want him to worry more than he already is."

Jar Jar nodded. "'Twas nice seein yousa hereabouts. Good evenin, Princess."

"It was nice seeing you, too, Jar Jar," Leia replied. "Good evening." She walked out the door to where her friends were waiting. Luke noticed something was wrong, but he decided not to say anything until they reached the hotel. Everyone stayed with the rooming arrangements that they had had for the past few days, so Luke and Leia were still sharing a room. After Leia had finished getting ready for bed and before Luke went off to brush his teeth, he decided to find out what was bothering her.

"Leia... What's wrong?" Luke asked, concerned. "Are you all right?"

Leia smiled to try and dispel his concerns, but since it was obviously failing, Leia answered truthfully. "I---I talked one of my parents' friends. They've known him forever, and he's completely trustworthy, so don't worry, but I'm just having some regrets about having left them so suddenly. I haven't seen either of them or talked to either of them since we left Coruscant. I miss them terribly..." Leia trailed off and tried to keep from crying. She'd been strong for the past few months, so why was she breaking down now?

"It's okay to be sad," Luke said. "I miss everyone back home, too. Even, dare I say it, the Jedi Council. It's just so different at the base. Sure, everyone tends to know everyone else, which sort of says something about our numbers, but it's not the same familiarity I feel when I'm at the Jedi Temple, or on Coruscant at all... Or here, even."

Leia laughed halfheartedly. "It's this planet. We shouldn't have come here." She paused. "Luke... I have family here. That's why I've been able to get us in this hotel and into the restaurant. I've been keeping a secret from all of you guys." Leia was about to tell him who her parents were, a secret she had kept, but Luke chose that moment to cut her off.

"You don't have to say anything, Leia. Whatever it is, it wouldn't change my opinion of you," Luke told her. He smiled. "Do you want to visit any of your family? I'm sure Han and the others wouldn't mind delaying our schedule for a few hours."

Leia, sitting on her bed, stared at the sheets and nodded. She looked up. "That would be nice, Luke. Thank you for understanding."

Luke grinned and waved it off. "It's nothing."

* * *

In the morning, Leia got up early and dressed in the best thing she had brought with her and did her hair up in a simple bun. It took her a solid five minutes to wake Luke up. After she managed to do so, he called Han and Tycho's room and explained to Tycho (since Tycho had answered the phone) that Leia was going to go visit some of her family and that Tycho needed to make sure the others didn't flip out when they noticed that he and Leia were missing. Tycho mumbled something as a reply and dropped the phone down on the receiver. By that point, Leia was almost finished packing for both herself and Luke since he didn't really look up to the task of stuffing clothes in a suitcase. Shortly thereafter, everything was packed and Luke was ready to drive Leia to where she needed to go. They put the suitcases in Han and Tycho's room, mostly just to make sure Tycho was awake and remembered what they needed him to tell everyone else. 

On the first floor of the hotel, Leia rented a speeder, and she handed the keys over to Luke. Leia, while she was an accomplished driver, still hadn't managed or bothered, for that matter, to get her license, hence why Luke was coming along on the trip. After finding the speeder Leia had rented, they both jumped in. Luke started the speeder, and Leia started giving Luke directions for where to go. It took approximately forty-five minutes to reach Leia's grandparents house. Luke decided to stay with the speeder; he didn't want to intrude. "Really, Leia, it's all right. It would be awkward if I came with you."

Leia stared at Luke, somewhat frustrated. "They wouldn't mind. Really! Grandma and Grandpa would love to meet any of my friends. C'mon, Luke."

Luke smiled and shook his head. "No, Leia... I'd---I'd only get in the way."

"If you insist..." Leia trailed off and smiled faintly at him before running across the street and knocking on the door to her grandparents' house. It was around breakfast time, but Leia heard footsteps coming to the door almost immediately. Leia braced herself and tried to remember what excuse she had come up with to explain her presence on Naboo, but it didn't come to mind. _Oh, well. I guess I could always wing it... or tell the truth._

The door opened, and, instead of one of her grandparents answering the door, it was Leia's Aunt Sola. "Leia!" she exclaimed happily as she hugged Leia. "What are you doing here?" Sola asked as she brought Leia inside.

"I was around, Aunt Sola," Leia replied. "Some of my friends and I decided to take a little vacation and come here for a while... We're leaving today, and I didn't want to leave the planet without saying hi to you or grandma and grandpa," she explained.

Sola grinned. "Well! You look so grown up! I know it's only been a year, but you look a lot more mature. How have your parents been doing?"

Leia looked down at the floor. "So they haven't told you?" she asked. "I ...haven't seen them for a little more than half a year." Leia put her smile back on. "Um, how've you and the cuzes and Uncle Darred been doing?"

Sola frowned a little. "What do you mean you haven't seen your parents?" she asked, ignoring Leia's question for the moment.

"I joined the Rebellion," Leia murmured. "We can't call Coruscant for stuff like social calls because there's too much risk of information being leaked."

Sola blinked. "Oh." She shook her head, smiling. "I should have figured that you had done that. It fits you completely. You're so much like your parents it's almost frightening." Sola laughed a little. "To answer you question, your uncle and I have been fine, and your cousins are having fun in college, as far as we can tell." Sola grinned. "So what about that boy outside? Who's he? Your boyfriend?"

Leia turned bright red. "Aunt Sola! No! He isn't! He's just a friend... and, strangely, the only one that even attempts to wake up at a normal hour in the morning. He sleeps like a log, though." Leia noticed her aunt was still grinning at her. "What? We were rooming together at the hotel to save money! Anyway, he's almost as hard to wake up as Dad. Not one of the guys is my boyfriend, so stop looking at me like that!"

Sola giggled again. "I'm sorry, Leia. It's just that you remind me so much of your mother when she brought home your father for the first time. She denied the fact that she liked him for a solid hour. I broke her eventually by way of tickling."

"Look, Luke is more like a brother to me than anything else," Leia declared, trying to get her aunt to stop pestering her about boys.

Sola's expression faltered for a second to a look of recognition but went back to being that of the family interrogator. "What about the other friends that you mentioned?"

"And I don't like Han, either!" Leia said. She realized she should have kept her mouth shut about him a few seconds after she said that and clamped her hand over her mouth.

Sola put on a mock-serious face. "Do not worry," she said. "I shall not tell the Overprotective One that you have a boyfriend."

"Where's grandma and grandpa?" Leia asked, changing the subject. Sola let the subject drop and showed Leia to Ruwee and Jobal. Leia made sure that she kept the topic as far away as possible from the Rebellion and her parents. She told her grandparents that she was on Naboo with some of her close friends, but neglected to mention that all of the friends she was talking about were guys and that she knew them because of the Rebellion. Leia ate breakfast with them, and after about an hour and a half, she excused herself and said her goodbyes.

While Leia was leaving, Sola watched her from the window that looked out onto the front yard. She watched as the two sped off to go meet with their friends. _They look so much like their parents..._

* * *

When they had returned to Citenik from Hoth, Leia had been very nervous that they were suspected of going AWOL for the time that they did when they were supposed to be on Hoth. Her fears were unfounded, though, since Han had spied on the High Command and made sure that they didn't know anything about the little sojourn that had been taken. After all, Leia had said she'd blame Han if anyone found out about it. A few weeks later, Han started getting the feeling that Bail knew, but that he just wasn't saying anything. Han hoped he was just being paranoid, but it seemed like Bail actually approved of what ended up being Han's decision to get the heck off of Hoth. Regardless, shortly after they had returned with the meteorological data, the High Command had sent out a construction team to build the new base on Hoth, much to the dismay of the scouting team. 

The rest of the year was more or less like the first half of it had been. The Rebellion was still being hunted by the Republic, but no one, not even the Jedi, could find out where the location of the Rebel base was. Or so the Rebels thought. Everything changed on a day shortly after the first anniversary of the Battle of Yavin. An Imperial attack force dropped out of hyperspace into the Citenik system. All of the Rebel fighters and transports were scrambled for the impending attack. There was a short sortie on the outskirts of the system between some of the Rebel starfighters and the Imperial TIEs, but by the time that the capital ships had reached the planet of Citenik, all of the transports had evacuated and no important information had been left behind. All the Imperials captured was an empty base.

Seven days later, the Rebel forces were in the Hoth system, and most could no longer deny the fact that they were to be stuck on an ice planet for an indefinite duration. Those that went on the scouting mission remembered why they had risked going AWOL to escape the planet and made sure that no one was going to give Wes or Hobbie any emergency blankets to use as clothing. Eventually, someone did make the mistake of giving Wes and Hobbie emergency blankets, and there was a strange snowball fight that day where not only did the base split into two groups but it evolved into a game of capture the flag where whoever had the most of the opposite side's blankets won. Rogue Squadron's group won in favor of those with the High Command with all of the blankets to zilch. Snowball fights were banned from that day on, and Rogue Squadron swore it was because the High Command had lost the fight the day before.

The next day, the High Command started searching for a location for yet another new base in case Hoth was compromised. Most of the Rebels wished for a new location to go to every day, and the Rogues volunteered for the next scouting mission.

* * *

A few weeks after the anniversary of the now infamous Battle of Yavin, Jedi Master Aayla Secura finally hit pay dirt. The Empire had neglected to give the Jedi the location of the former two Rebel bases, but Aayla and her crazy Padawans had finally found the base which had been just recently attacked. It was in the Citenik system. According to the Imperial reports, there had been heavy TIE casualties during the Rebel's flight from Citenik, but minor Rebel starfighter casualties, and there had been no capital ship damage on either side. Like the rest of the Jedi, she did not trust the Empire and thought that they were up to something sinister. The hiding of the locations of the Rebel bases backed up her views on the subject. Teneniel and Allya had insisted that they go and search the base no matter what, but Aayla had those reasons for searching the Rebel base. Her main mission objective was to find the Rebels, but the sub objectives were to find and report any Sith activity within the Empire and to interview Rebel soldiers and possibly members of the High Command so the Jedi Council could see the bigger picture and possibly present a case to the Senate to lift the death sentences on all of the members of the Rebel Alliance. 

Aayla started the landing sequence of _Dark Force Rising_, the Corellian blockade runner that the Jedi Temple had assigned her for chasing down the Rebels. Teneniel was in the cockpit and staring out the viewports. Allya was no doubt waiting right next to the portal to the outside. Aayla smiled a little. They both had friends who had joined the Rebels. It really was a pity that the Order had to cut all connections and sever all ties to those three. From the intel that Aayla had received, Katarn was now a commando, which she somehow found not very surprising. Along those lines, she had thought that Halcyon would have gone into the spy business, but she could only find out that he was a pilot. If finding out that Katarn became a commando was unsurprising, then Anakin's son becoming a fighter pilot was the most apparent thing in the entire galaxy. That boy definitely took after his father. On the topic of those boys, Aayla was very glad to hear that the Empire had no clue about them being Jedi. That was one of her mission objectives as well: hide the fact that Jedi had joined the Rebellion at all costs. She had denied the fact on numerous occasions already.

Beside Aayla, Teneniel gasped and called Allya to come into the cockpit. They were now very close to the Rebel base, and what they saw looked like ruins. Aayla had figured that the Rebels had just done a good job of camouflaging their base, but as the ship drew closer and started to actually land, Aayla saw that the Empire had done their best to destroy the base so that no one would ever find it. The "no one" that the Empire didn't want to find the base was probably Aayla herself and the rest of the Jedi. Now why would they not want that to happen? Maybe they would find enough information to find out where the Rebels had disappeared to. The Empire wouldn't find out that information until the Jedi had decided what was best for the Republic. If not telling the Empire was good, then the Rebellion would be getting a lease on life from the Jedi.

A few minutes later, all three of them were on the ground in the hanger of the base and were about to start searching the rest of the base for any viable information. Aayla whistled. The base was rather impressive. "I wonder how long it took the Rebellion to set this place up," she murmured and turned to look at her two Padawans. They were gawking at the installation as well. It was in surprisingly good condition for having been assaulted by the Empire's warships. Aayla did have to admit that the outside looked like it had been completely annihilated, but the inside was practically untouched.

Teneniel walked over to a computer terminal and turned it on. A password screen turned on. "Master Aayla! The computers still work!" she called out. Aayla and Allya rushed over. "But... as you can see, there's a password screen. If we type the wrong thing in, it'll probably do a memory wipe to the hard drive of the terminal so thorough that we can't recover the data." Teneniel sighed. "Oh, well. Time to test Corran's codes." She typed in the passcode that he almost always used without fail. Luckily, it did work. The normal desktop settings appeared on the screen.

Aayla scanned the names of the folders and programs. About half of them were random personal things like "1001 Uses for Rations" or "Wes' Betting Pool Data." From the other names of the folders, it started to seem to Aayla that a number of users accessed this one terminal. Since Corran Halcyon's password worked, she guessed it had to do with the mysterious wonder squadron that had been eluding and generally getting the better of the Empire. With their strange hobbies, Aayla had to wonder how they were pulling that off.

Halfway down the screen, Teneniel noticed a folder named "Shadow Ninja." "Uh, Aayla, I think we were actually left some information," she reported. "Corran seems to have given us an entire folder on the desktop." She pointed to the Shadow Ninja icon so Aayla could see before clicking on it with the mouse. The contents of the folder were simple: there were letters from Corran and Kyle and Luke as well as actual information about what the Rebellion was and had been doing for the past year. One of the most important things that they could find right off the bat was a complete report about the Battle of Yavin. Teneniel was pretty sure that it was probably the official report that had been filed away by the High Command by the look of the title it had been given. There was also something that detailed a scouting mission which was called "Half The Squad Goes AWOL, A Scouting Mission." There were many more files until they finally found the end of the data in the folder. The last file was a letter from Princess Leia which was to be delivered to her father.

"I think we should download this onto a disk," Allya said, waving at the terminal's screen. "There's a Sith hell of a lot of information that Corran and his friends left for us to find." She took out a disk. "I happen to be prepared for this occurrence. Master Aayla, do you think I should try and download the files?"

Aayla nodded. "You friends wouldn't have booby trapped the terminal or the data if they left this for you. I have a feeling that the half of this that is information to be used and not delivered will be very important for our mission. We are going to have to go back to Coruscant to deliver it. I do not think the Empire should know that we have the data."

Teneniel nodded. She had just finished reading Corran's letter to her. "I completely agree. According to what Corran said..." She shuddered. "He strongly suggested that we transfer the information ourselves. The holonet isn't safe to use, and he seems to suggest that the fate of the Rebellion depends upon how we use or transfer the information."

Allya gasped. "That means that he included the location of the new Rebel base on there!" she exclaimed, handing the blank disk over to Teneniel to copy the data onto for transference. "Probably all of the tactical data, too!"

Aayla watched as the two girls fussed over the information and waited for the disk to copy the data. Once Teneniel pulled the finished disk out of the terminal slot, the hard drive of the computer wiped itself clean. Smiling, Aayla reflected that it was something that was a typical thing for Katarn or Halcyon to do. The password probably didn't matter; there was more likely a retinal scan or DNA test which allowed Teneniel and Allya to access the computer. If anyone had tried to hack or slice in, then the computer would have probably wiped itself. That said, the fact that the terminal had been untouched meant that the Empire had not been as thorough as they should have been. _Their loss_, Aayla decided.

* * *

Two months after what became known as the Rout at Citenik, Aayla, Teneniel, and Allya gave their report to the Jedi Council on Coruscant. They were going to give the letters that were supposed to go to some of the Council members after the meeting so that it would not be on the record that Jedi were part of the Rebel Alliance. They were also to keep secret the location of the new Rebel base on Hoth until the meeting was dismissed so they could tell the Council that they would be proceeding with the next part of the plan without the Empire knowing. All they were actually going to cover in the Council meeting was the Rebel account of the Battle of Yavin, various missions that the squadron Corran was in went on, and "leads" that Teneniel had "sliced" out of the Rebel's computers. 

Aayla was called into the Council chambers. She motioned for Teneniel and Allya to follow her. When they were inside, the doors shut behind them. As they had practiced, Aayla gave a summary of how their mission had been progressing so far. Then Teneniel described how she had "sliced" her way into the Rebel computers and told the Council what information that they had found. Anakin had a nasty look on his face when Teneniel mentioned that they had leads on where the Rebels could be. Aayla felt sorry for him since both of his children were openly siding with the Alliance while his wife was covertly one of the leaders of the Rebellion, and he was part of the group which had the job of hunting them down so the Republic could try them for a treason charge they didn't deserve. Allya started giving a synopsis of the Battle of Yavin from the point of view of the Rebellion and finished her speaking time with some of the missions that Corran's squadron went on. Aayla finished up the presentation with the theoretical "leads" they had which were completely wrong, and she made sure to send that information to the Council that they did know where the new base was, but that what she was saying was mostly for show and the placation of the Senate and Imperials. "Are there any questions?" she asked after Teneniel and Allya had been dismissed. They would have to wait outside for this portion of the meeting.

Obi-Wan frowned. "Aayla, which story do you find more plausible? The Rebel version or the Imperial version of the Battle of Yavin? From the information you gathered, it makes the Rebels sound like they wouldn't attack a space station with no provocation."

Aayla sighed. "I tend to agree with the Rebellion. The transcripts we found seem to be bits and pieces of the official record that the Rebels would have filed in their computer systems. Teneniel was not able to find any names to attach to the people. Only the squadron call numbers survived and the ranks of those in the High Command. Except for three of them. They were referred to as 'Salt', 'Paprika', and 'Thyme'. The writer of the file was very eccentric, almost as crazy as one of our own." Aayla hoped that the message had gone through loud and clear that Corran and Kyle had left them the information.

Anakin smiled. "The writer does sound very familiar. It really is too bad he and his friends are on extended leave. This starfighter pilot squadron sounds intriguing. Is it the one which tends to drive the Empire to distraction?"

Aayla nodded. "From what Teneniel could tell, it was the one and only. We weren't sure of what the squad's name is, though. The data we retrieved called them many things, and 'troublemakers' was one of the most tame labels." She smiled. "The official name of the squad is Rogue Squadron. They're considered crazy by Rebel standards, truth be told."

"What was the exact condition of the Rebel base when you arrived?" Mace asked.

Aayla thought back. "The inside looked like they had escaped very quickly with little warning, but there was not much damage to the interior. The exterior had the appearance of being hammered continuously by superlaser fire. I think the Empire bombarded the base after the Rebels had already escaped to their new location. All evidence points to that."

"Troubling, this is," Yoda decided. "Seem to want us to find the Rebels the Empire does not." He shook his head. "Most disturbing, this is. Clouded, the future should not be."

Aaron looked like he was concentrating on something. "Wait, Aayla. I was thinking that if the computer let Teneniel hack into the systems, but self-destructed when she retrieved the disk with the information on it, wouldn't that imply that the Rebels wanted us to find the data? Because it seems to me that the terminal could have been set to wipe itself before the data had finished copying itself onto the disk."

_Oh, no. He just had to ask that, didn't he?_ Aayla asked herself. "I thought that was odd for a while, too, but then I realized that an Imperial or Republic spy in deep cover could have programmed it for us to discover, or even for the Imperial forces to discover. There are many reasons that it turned out the way it did. Teneniel's slicing skills could also have bypassed the switch that would have set off the memory wiping program."

Aaron nodded. "Right... right." Aayla thought that he seemed a little distracted. By what, though? "Sorry. That was a stupid question."

Aayla looked around the room. Adi seemed to be a little tense as well. _Wait... Aaron's distracted and Adi won't stop fidgeting. Oh, no._ Aayla realized what was wrong. She decided to hold off on saying anything until after the meeting was finished. "If there's nothing else, then I am finished with the report," she said to end the meeting quickly.

Yoda nodded. "The Council is dismissed." It took a few seconds for the Senate's newly installed recording software for any meeting about the Senate dubbed "Galactic Civil War" to turn off. The atmosphere visibly relaxed once they were sure it was off.

Aayla walked out the door and waited with Teneniel and Allya for the certain Jedi on the Council to come rushing out and demand the truth. They only had to wait a fraction of a second because Anakin literally came flying through the doors right after Aayla had exited the room. Obi-Wan shortly followed his former student, but he had walked out at a more reasonable pace. Plo sauntered vaguely in their direction for the letter he was pretty sure Kyle had sent. Mace walked over for the real details; he was acting as the Jedi Council's illicit information gatherer. Adi came over, too, but she let Aaron go off, probably to search. The Jedi Masters formed a line of sorts for access to whatever they were to receive.

"Wow," was the first thing Aayla said. "Quite a crowd here, huh?" She continued after Obi-Wan shrugged. "Okay, so I'm guessing you figured out we were being liberal with the truth." Mace stared at her; Aayla continued. "Real story: Corran, probably with Kyle and Luke, organized a file of documents to give to us. There was tons of stuff in there; I only told you maybe a fourth of the complete information." Allya handed a datapad to Mace. "The contents of that are complete documents for most of the Rebellion's important missions. It also has files which describe any and all missions and battles leading up to and including the Battle of Yavin. Corran no doubt sliced the information out of the Alliance mainframe, so we cannot, under any circumstances, let that information out to the Republic or the Empire unless the Rebellion is proven innocent."

Mace was searching the table of contents on the data pad. "Impressive. I'll make sure to pass that information on to Yoda and the others," he said before walking off.

The others just approached en masse. Aayla decided to deal with them that way. "And now for the mail delivering portion of our program," Aayla announced. "Anakin, you have 42 messages. Twelve are from Corran, twelve from Luke, twelve from Rogue Squadron (the squad they belong to), one from Bail Organa (it's very sincere and full of apologies), one from Mon Mothma (mostly wondering why you let Leia leave the planet), one from Garm Bel Ibis, one from Kyle, one from some guy named Han Solo (I think he's a friend of Leia's), and one from Leia. Happy reading," Aayla said, handing over the datapad with every single one of the files on it. Anakin was rather stunned by the amount of mail.

"Someone's obviously very popular," Obi-Wan commented. He received a glare from Anakin in return for the comment before Anakin went back to reading his messages.

"Obi-Wan," Aayla announced. "You have 15 messages. Twelve are from Luke, one from Corran, one from Kyle, and one from Leia." Allya handed the datapad over, and Aayla addressed the next reading victim. "Plo. You have one long novel to read from Kyle and a combined letter from Rogue Squadron apologizing for corrupting him."

Plo received the datapad from Teneniel and looked over the contents. "Kyle better have spell checked this..." he said, wondering how Kyle could have written so much while having to go on missions at the same time, and wandered off to read everything.

"Adi?" Teneniel asked. "Where's Mara? Leia and all the guys wrote her letters."

Adi looked away. "We haven't seen her since there was that skirmish on Selttiks where the Rebels barely escaped. She disappeared from the Temple the next day... Do you know if she joined the Rebellion like the others? Was there anything at all that would suggest that she joined the Rebels?" Adi was speaking on behalf of Aaron, Mara's father.

Teneniel shook her head. "No... There was nothing. That's so weird. I mean, if she was going to get involved with this whole stupid conflict, she would side with the Rebels, but if she---Wait, when was Selttiks? If it was after the base was evacuated, then---"

"It was before the raid on Citenik," Aayla murmured. "Oh Force... This is a disaster."

Anakin remembered something. "Wait. When you were talking about those leads, Aayla, does that mean you actually know where the Rebel base is?"

Aayla nodded. "Yes. I'm planning to go there soon to talk to them about the war."

"I'm coming with you," Adi decided. "I'm assigning myself to this mission, too. It's my duty to find Mara, and she could be at the Rebel base. If she isn't, then I'll just have to come back to Coruscant and start my search all over again. Is that all right with you, Aayla?"

Aayla looked over to Obi-Wan, who shrugged, and she guessed that meant the senior Council member there besides Adi approved. "Of course. We'll just have to be subtle about the question asking, though. Oh, and we're going to need to pack some warm clothing. According to the 'scouting party that went AWOL', it's cold as the lowest level of hell on Hoth. They left the planet after a few hours and took a vacation instead of staying and doing their job. From the data they brought back, I sure don't blame them."

"You know, the name Hoth sounds familiar," Anakin said. "I'm reminded of arrow-shaped ships and annoying people..." He looked back down at the display on the datapad. "And speaking of annoying people, I got a letter from my future son-in-law."

"Oh, Leia's met him already? I thought he was a rather nice man when he and the others visited from the future," Obi-Wan said. "The pilots we met then were the Rogues."

Teneniel and Allya shared a glance of complete bewilderment with each other.

"Well I didn't think that damned annoying Corellian was..." Anakin said before trailing off into unintelligible sounds and cuss words from different languages, mainly Huttese.

It took a while for Adi to figure out what Anakin was getting at, but then she remembered the people from the future. "Oh! You mean Leia's already met Han?"

Anakin twitched at the mention of Han's name. Obi-Wan hid a grin. "You know, Mr. Solo had a film of Anakin laughing hysterically and fainting. It was very funny." He turned back to Adi and was suddenly serious. "Good luck finding Mara... I somehow feel that this is partially my fault, though. It's almost as if---" Obi-Wan realized a connection between two certain incidents. "Anakin. Do you remember anything at all that was out of the ordinary when Miss Jade had fainted suddenly about a year ago? She had been acting differently ever since then. Do you think that maybe the Sith were trying to---"

Anakin was staring at Obi-Wan with a look of horrified realization on his face. "Oh my God. They brought her over to their side to keep her quiet."

Adi furrowed her eyebrows together. "What do you mean, Anakin? I noticed the same thing. She had been acting a little different, like there was some sort of warring faction in her mind. I was about to bring it up in Council right before... she... left."

"Palpatine was probably the one in her head," Anakin said. "He might not have been completely able to control what knowledge she was privy to. After all, he was the one she was trying to warn us about... but I know that there is definitely something else the Empire's trying to hide. You've all felt that dark presence. Palpatine wants that Sith Lord to stay hidden, so he had to make sure Mara couldn't say anything. She's had the most visions out of all of the children, and..."

"And all of them were about the Empire and the Emperor and his dark servant," Teneniel said. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Adi, and Aayla turned to her. "She always told me about her dreams," Teneniel explained. "Especially the ones with the dark servant. She was scared of him, but don't tell her I told you that. Besides, she was eight at the time."

"There's our proof that the Empire is evil," Adi sighed. "Dammit! Why did it have to be Mara? You know those idiots are going to stage a rescue mission if they find out."

Obi-Wan nodded. "That was the reason that attachment was forbidden in the Order for so long. The lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few, but they won't listen."

Anakin realized who the mysterious Sith Lord was and felt nauseous. Why hadn't he noticed before? How had he not noticed? "No... It can't be true. That's impossible... No!"

* * *

In the Deep Core of the galaxy, there was a planet called Byss. On this planet was a Spaarti cylinder. A clone body had been growing there for seventeen years, and the soul of the most hated person in that version of the galaxy had finally traveled to its destination. When he awoke, he was pleased to note that the cloned body had grown to the age he had programmed it to be: twenty-five. No one would recognize him anymore; he was young again, and no one would suspect. Perfect. 

After he dressed, he walked out of the antechamber. His faithful servants were all waiting for him. There were a few surprises, but that was of no matter. The cyborg was still useful, and those that had died were ready for vengeance. Of the geniuses, he was very pleased to note that his favorite admiral was present and that his least favorite governor was not. He would have to give a medal to whoever killed that man, unless it was a Rebel, who would instead receive a quick death as a reward. His grand vizier was also there with the beautiful head of the intelligence agency and the prince. Most of his trained assassins were lurking in the shadows like they should and the elite guards were stationed nicely.

He was very pleased that his two favorite servants were waiting for him at the bottom ot the steps. Wonderful. The girl had succumbed to his mental bombardments more quickly than expected. Anyway, on to business. The other needed to be properly introduced to the others. After all, he was a guest in this reality. "Rise, Lord Vader."

* * *

_  
HA! Becha didn't expect that! Actually, you probably did. I was trying to make it as obvious as I could without completely blowing the Awesome One's cover. Oh, and, just to let you know, this wasn't something I came up with while I was coming off of the pain medicine right after my operation. I'd planned this almost since the start of the story. I mean, it just wouldn't be Star Wars without Vader, complete with the heavy breathing. Sorry. Vader's my second favorite character ever from everything ever. Plus, I don't think the Galactic Civil War would quite be the same without him. And since he is here, many new options open... half of which are theoretically and technically impossible, not to mention against the laws of physics. So..._

_REVIEWS! YAYE! THANK YOU ALL WHO HAVE DONE SO! & here are the replies:_

_**Yuna-flowering**: Hello again! Yes, Anakin thinks Padme is the source of the crazy gene. We all know otherwise._

_**JadeAlmasy**: Thank you for the reviewness! Thankies!_

_**SuperBlonde**: Yes, and the plot keeps getting thicker... like JELLO as it hardens... or soup. Sorry I kept you waiting so long. I hope the extra longness makes up for it. I felt guilty about not posting..._

_**Jas-TheMaddTexan**: As you can see, I can. I'm going to give poor Lukie a huge headache on Bespin._

_**Niraha Skywalker**: Thank you. I can't exactly remember what happened in chapter six, but I think it was funny, so thank you for thinking it was funny, too. And I vaguely remember the Republic acting stupid about something... The Chancellor's probably not gonna get a name._

_Yah. Thankies for reading and stuff. I hope you stick around for the next chapter... According to my handy dandy paper thingy which has the outline on it, we get to look foreward to... The Rebellion and Empire generally acting normal, Thrawn acting like the awesome person he is, and some political strife/madness. Hm. You know, **this** chapter looked a lot shorter on my outline. It took up about six lines originally. One of which said "Sith act sithy." I thought that up during driving school, just to let you know. So. Until next time! **(EDIT: I'm really super sorry about the crazy rants. I don't know what I was doing earlier...)**_


	8. It's Getting BetterCan't Get Much Worse

_Hello people! I've been working a while on this chapter, haven't I? Sorry about that... But, hey, it's actually longer than the last one. It was supposed to be longer than this, but I decided to move Hoth into the next chapter. That will be a little strange... ESB in one chapter... Then Shadows of the Empire in a few. Maybe. I have to come up with a convincing way to kill Xizor off. Anyway, this chapter may start off a little dull. It's Padmé-centric for about seven straight pages. I was unsure of whether to keep some of it, but I ended up including the whole thing. Can you say OOC Sith Lords? I can. But, if any character that died in the Clone Wars is still alive and Ventress seems, I don't know, completely and totally out of character, I blame my lack of prequel knowledge. Yah. That's about it. So... Thank you thank you thank you for reading this story! I love working on it, and I'm glad that people enjoy reading it! So, thank you for your continued reading (to those returning) and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!_

* * *

Padmé was staring at the ceiling of her and Anakin's room. It was sometime in the morning, and Padmé knew she should be getting ready to go to the day's Senate meeting, but she could not bring herself to get up. Padmé had stopped counting the days since Leia had joined the Alliance more than a year ago, but the pain she had felt when she still had been counting was still there, now fresh in her mind again. The reason why was because Anakin had brought home some messages from Leia and her friends. Leia's friends. Yes, that led Padmé to yet another train of thought: Luke. The twins knew each other, but had no clue that they were brother and sister. Padmé supposed it was for the better at the moment. If it was discovered by the Empire or the Republic that either of the two were part of the Rebellion, then they could be used to guarantee Padmé and Anakin's cooperation, especially if the children were prisoners of war. 

_What am I thinking? _Padmé demanded inwardly. _There's no virtue in losing myself in thoughts of "what if." Besides, I need to concentrate on the day ahead. The political head of the Empire is finally coming to speak before the Senate._ The thought galvanized her to finally get herself out of bed and start to dress. As she put on her makeup, Padmé wondered why she had never gone off to visit the Rebel base. After all, the group of Senators orchestrating the group tried to send someone every few weeks or so. Maybe she would volunteer for the next time. But if she did go, then there was the possibility of running into Leia and having to say nothing as Leia introduced her brother to her mother. Reviewing that possibility, Padmé decided that it was better not to go to the Rebel base.

When she had finished, Padmé walked into the kitchen to find Anakin drinking a pitcher of coffee and reading the newspaper. From the look on his face, Padmé guessed that there was more bad news today. "More war propaganda?" she hazarded.

Anakin looked up from his reading. "A day doesn't go by where there isn't, these days," he replied, setting the paper down. "But that's not what's upsetting me." He tossed a datapad over to Padmé. "Leia's letter to us," he explained.

Padmé looked at the datapad in her hands. She wanted to read it, yet dreaded what it would say. Choosing to ignore it for the moment, she pressed on, knowing that wasn't what Anakin was stressed about. He was avoiding something; she could tell. "Ani... What's really wrong?" she asked, setting the datapad down on the table. "It has little to nothing to do with Leia, and you know it. Now, please tell me what is wrong?"

Anakin knew he was cornered, but still tried to weasel his way out of the question. "Work's been getting to me lately," he said and received a disbelieving look from Padmé. "...Fine. Aayla found the location of the base," Anakin admitted. "But that's not the half of it."

"You told me about finding the base last night, Anakin!" Padmé told him. "It's old news! I mean, pretty soon half of the galaxy---Wait. You don't mean the new base, do you?" she asked. "The one that the Imperials don't know about? The one they haven't found? Aayla knows where that one is?"

Anakin nodded. "Yes, but don't get upset about that. Only the Council knows all of the details. We've been feeding the Imps falsified data for months now, but this is the first time that we really need to keep this a secret. If we were found out... Think about how compromised the situation of the Jedi was during the Wars. I have no doubt it would be worse than that." Anakin glanced at the newspaper again. "I'm being sent out again."

The words barely registered. Padmé blinked. "Y-you can't possibly mean that, that the army's recommissioning you! Then you might end up fighting or killing L---"

"I know, Padmé," Anakin said quietly, looking down at the table. "The Council cannot do anything about it. I received the letter about it this morning. We'll be discussing this in the Council meeting the day after tomorrow since the letter calls us away from Coruscant."

"Away from Coruscant?" Padmé repeated. "To where? Wouldn't the Senate or the leaders of the military be on-planet? I thought that no one knew where the Rebellion was besides the Rebels and now the Jedi? ...Something doesn't seem right."

Anakin shook his head absentmindedly. "Nothing seems right anymore. First it was those dark Force-presences, then the sudden appearance of the Empire in the Senate. You know, Aaron and Celes' daughter went missing a few months ago. We only now figured out that the Sith were the ones responsible. Everything's going so wrong."

Padmé was starting to be affected by Anakin's depressing demeanor, but she was sure that she had heard him imply that the Sith had risen again. "The Sith? But I thought Palpatine was the last of them? Could he have trained any more in the meantime?"

"Padmé, they're no one we haven't dealt with before," Anakin commented. "In fact, Obi-Wan killed one, I killed another, and the last... well, he was dealt with. Mace is pretty sure that Ventress is back, too. He has a contact somewhere that swore he saw Ventress. It would explain the fourth presence that had been out there. I think we're going up against four Sith this time, though. We could probably take on one or two easily, but four Sith and a Dark Jedi? The odds seem stacked against us." Anakin took a large drink of coffee to try and settle his nerves. He sighed. "Angel, I don't think we can win this time. The last time we fought a Sith, three Jedi Masters were killed. You remember that. If the entire Council took on all of the Sith... We could probably eliminate Maul and Ventress, Dooku if we were lucky. Palpatine is another matter entirely, but the last... I'm one of the few that has any chance against him; he has perfected the murder of Jedi into an art form."

Padmé stared straight into Anakin's eyes. "You're the only one that knows about the last, aren't you?" she realized, and Anakin looked away. "Anakin, you have to tell them!" She sighed exasperatedly. "Did you discover the information about the last yesterday?"

Anakin's frown deepened. "No. I've known about the Sith for a long time. I only realized it was him yesterday when Adi, Obi-Wan, and I figured out what had happened to Celes' daughter. The Sith was the reason she was, for lack of a better word, kidnapped."

Padmé looked over at the counter where the datapad was sitting. "So the Rebellion's doomed, then. It won't be able to survive if the combined power of the Republic and Jedi join with the Empire and Sith. It's now a lost cause, I guess."

The comment drew some laughter (although bitter laughter) out of Anakin. "No, Padmé, you have it all wrong," he declared. "It's only a matter of time, like I said earlier. The Republic is going to die soon, and with it the Jedi will fall. The Rebellion has a fighting chance because then it will be a hopeless cause in league with the Jedi against an Empire only the corrupt will support." He smiled. "I guess this is destiny's way of telling us we aren't getting out of this whole mess that easily."

Padmé caught on to what Anakin was getting at. "You mean to say that this would have happened anyway, but it didn't because seventeen years ago we received an intervention from the future? Anakin, do you think this means that the Jedi will all be killed again? Is that really what is necessary for the Force to be balanced?"

"It's not going to happen if I have anything to say about it," Anakin replied. "Besides, I'm sure everything will turn out all right eventually." He glanced at his watch and stood up. "I'm sorry, Angel, but I do have to go to work now and report in. I'll see you in two days."

Padmé put on a smile. "Make sure you come back or I'll hunt you down and make you apologize," she warned, deciding to lighten the conversation up by the time it would finish. "I won't be as kind to whoever holds you up, though."

"I'm sure that's a warning that most would be scared off by," Anakin replied, grinning.

Padmé walked Anakin to the door. After she had kissed him goodbye, she watched his speeder go off into the distance. _I'm alone now_, she realized as she walked back into the kitchen. _Leia isn't here for me to talk into staying a Senator or reassure that her father hasn't read her diary. Artoo has some job in the Rebellion, most likely acting as the astromech for Luke's X-wing. Threepio's with Leia. Obi-Wan's probably in the same situation as Anakin. Bail's on Alderaan. Garm's back on Corellia. Mon's with the Rebellion. And, to make it all worse, Jar Jar's back on Naboo._ Padmé sighed while she took the carton of milk out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter. Next to it was the datapad. Padmé picked up the datapad and turned it on. Instead of reading Leia's letter, she found the main menu and the table of contents. There were around forty messages, as far as Padmé could tell. About a third were from Rogue Squadron, which she found rather funny. Anakin had a fan club. After deciding to read those letters later (Anakin wouldn't mind that much), Padmé opened Leia's letter again and started reading.

* * *

Padmé watched as the representative of the Empire stood to speak. He was, of course, with the Senator from Mustafar. It was really no surprise. Padmé had guessed that Pestage was one of the leaders of the Empire long before. The young man about to speak was either Pestage's superior or a political smokescreen meant to hide the true nature of the Empire. Or, Padmé mused, the young man was both. Looks could be deceiving. 

The Chancellor spoke the formal introduction which was required. "The Senate recognizes Supreme Commander Loki Warender of the Imperial Coalition."

The one called Warender smiled. "My friends," he said in a completely benevolent tone. "For the past year, we, the Empire and Republic, have been fighting against a rancorous and baneful uprising which has already managed to murder millions in their efforts to split the Republic apart. As you know, this hateful conflict had ripped apart the fabric of what we believe in. They have eliminated the order of things and what the Republic treasures most: safety, security, and, most of all, justice and peace."

Padmé could not keep her jaw from dropping with his last statement. Safety, security, justice, and peace? What was this guy going on about? The Empire was the murder machine, not the Rebellion! The Rebels fought for peace and justice against the Sith. Padmé now had no doubt that the Sith Lords which Anakin had been so worried about were in league with the Empire. The "Supreme Commander" was proof enough of that. He had to either be a Sith himself or extremely deluded. If he was a Sith, then could he possibly be the Jedi-killer that Anakin had been referring to?

Warender continued. "As you know, the Jedi side with this illustrious legislative body in the matter of the current civil war that has the galaxy in a death grip. Again, they are going to take up arms against a corrupt foe which is only concerned about causing discord and splintering the Republic into so many pieces so that they can clean it all up and reshape the galaxy themselves. The only reason that they are better than the Separatists is that they have the decency to damn themselves by murdering our soldiers themselves instead of hiding behind infinitely replaceable battle droids."

Smiling grimly, Warender started to spew more slander about the Rebellion. "Imperial intelligence has indicated, however, that the Rebellion may in fact be working with the former Separatists. I am not going to pass any judgments based on that information, but who can say as to whether the Rebellion will cause yet another war which will cause the deaths of countless more? Only, this time, we shall lose a generation of young people and not replaceable clones." He shook his head, wearing an expression of what Padmé considered to be mock sympathy.

"However, that is not the greatest shame of this war. This war is different from the Clone Wars. This war could have been prevented, and prevented easily! 'Why?' you may ask. The reason why is that for some time, the Empire has suspected that someone in the Senate is the leader of this foolish and unscrupulous rebellion. I need not say whom has been accused of such action in the past, but I ask you why. Why did this horrible war start? Why did those Senators start this appalling uprising? And why was the Empire targeted?

"I can tell you why the Empire was targeted. We were targeted because they are fighting against everything that we stand for. It is even said that the newly resurrected Sith threat has decided to cast its lot with the Rebellion. This rumor, while it is a rumor, does seem to have potential veracity to it since as of yet, there has been no record whatsoever of any Jedi joining the Rebellion. Is that a mere coincidence? Or is it the reason?"

Padmé was disappointed to bare witness to the murmuring that the accusation caused, but she was very frustrated at herself and outraged at what the Imperial was insinuating. She could stand up right now and declare that everything Warender had said was incorrect; not only incorrect, but that what he said was bald-faced lies and severe bending of the truth. If she said any of that, Padmé knew that she would dig her own grave in that everyone would know she was one of the Rebel leaders. She would be dooming the Jedi if she said that there were Jedi in the ranks of the Rebellion because they would be accused of siding with the Rebels. She would be betraying Bail and Garm and Mon. She would be destroying any chance of finally ridding the universe of the Sith. She would virtually be signing the death warrants of her family. So, Padmé stayed silent.

"Unfortunately," Warender continued. "I believe that, while the Republic has been doing a commendable job, we need to have a more stable leader. The Chancellor needs to be able to given more responsibilities over the war situation instead of acting as an unbiased mediator. Maybe during times of peace an impartial negotiator is more beneficial, but this, sadly, is not one of those times." Warender set his face in a mask of determination. "I have no doubts about the Chancellor's abilities to govern the Republic, but I do not think that he is the best man for the job of leading the armies of the Republic and Empire against this Rebel Alliance." He took a deep breath. "I move for a vote of no confidence against the Supreme Chancellor for the good of the Republic and outcome of the war."

Padmé sighed. So that was the plan. The Empire was using the same methods to gain control that Palpatine had caused her to use to bring him to power over three decades before. No doubt someone would suggest that Supreme Commander Loki Warender replace the current Chancellor as the leader of the Republic. It vaguely amazed Padmé that the rest of the Sith would allow someone as young as Warender to lead them and eventually lead the Empire. Maybe, however, he wouldn't be nominated. Maybe no one would support the vote of no confidence. Padmé doubted that, and her hopes were proven false as the Senator of Kuat seconded Warender's motion. She was extremely surprised that the Chancellor seemed to believe Warender's statement about his inability to lead the Republic. What was wrong with the Senate these days.

There was a short recess before the Senate started up again and people started being nominated for the job of Supreme Chancellor. Unsurprisingly, Warender was nominated and graciously accepted the nomination with humility. Padmé listened to the rest of the nominations and realized that Warender was the only one that was even capable of the job, as much as she hated to admit it. She gazed around the room. Very few people who had been Senators during the Clone Wars still held those jobs. They remembered the warning which had been made against the Empire, but they were too small a voice to combat the roar of approval for Warender and his Empire.

* * *

By the time the Senate was dismissed, the sun was starting to set. When Padmé finally arrived at home, it was dark outside. She opened the door and was a little depressed that all the lights were off; it reminded her that she was completely alone. Shutting the door behind her, Padmé set her briefcase and keys on the table near the door. Padmé felt like collapsing on the couch and just falling asleep, hoping that the past year had just been a bad dream and that she would wake up in the morning with Anakin next to her, snoring louder than a rancor, and at breakfast Leia would be complaining about the Senate again. _Wishful thinking..._ Padmé thought. _Better eat dinner._

In the kitchen, Padmé took one of the frozen Corellian pizzas out of the freezer and put it in the microwave. The newspaper Anakin had been reading was still on the kitchen table. The headline read "Rebels Attack Imperial Forces On Dubrillion." Padmé recognized the name of the planet from the latest mission that one of the X-wing squadrons had gone on. It had been a scouting mission for a supposed Imperial operations center, but it had been a trap. A land-based laser cannon had almost taken out some of the capital ships which had come as back up. She shook her head. The galaxy had certainly gone mad in the past year to confuse good and evil. The Republic's propaganda machines weren't helping.

The microwave dinged to signal that it was finished. Sitting down to eat, Padmé took the now-cooked pizza out and set it on the table next to the newspaper. She was about to start eating when the door bell rang. _Who could that be?_ Padmé furrowed her eyebrows. It was near eleven o'clock. She stood back up and walked out of the kitchen into the living room and over to the entrance hallway. For some reason, Padmé found herself wanting to be holding a blaster. Maybe it was because she was home alone at eleven, or maybe it was the Force, she didn't know. Collecting herself, Padmé opened the door, not really sure what she was expecting to be there. The people standing there were the last people in the entire universe she expected. After all, said people was supposed to have been dead.

"Senator Amidala," Count Dooku said. "It certainly is nice to see you once again."

"But---but you're supposed to be---Anakin killed you!" Padmé managed to spit out.

"And Kenobi killed me," Maul mentioned. "But that is beside the point at the current moment." He was telling the truth. There was something else going on. Something else that had made two Dark Lords of the Sith dress in matching black suits and wear sunglasses.

"Why are you dressed like the Tanaabese Mafia?" Padmé asked, still in shock from seeing two dead people show up at her front door. They were even wearing holsters with old fashioned guns which fired bullets. The lightsabers were missing. "I'm not asleep, am I?"

Darth Maul cleared his throat. "We are here on behalf of our employers who wish you to remain silent about whatever information you know about the Empire which has been learned from any of the Jedi. Our employers do not wish to have you killed quite yet, hence why you are not dead at the moment. Then again, if we were allowed to kill you, we would think twice about it since Anakin Skywalker still hasn't had gone through an anger management course. Having him as a Sith is only useful to us if he doesn't want to kill us."

"No, you are awake," Dooku added. "Our employers also wish that you would stay silent about any of your theories about the Empire or its leader, Loki Warender."

"You mean that Sith Lord," Padmé stated.

"That's what you are not supposed to say," Maul stated. "Furthermore, due to your involvement with the Rebel Alliance, in other words, the fact that you're one of the leaders, we are to blackmail you in order to keep you silent about the Death Star and how the Empire is generally the aggressor in any and all conflicts. The blackmail was supposed to be some vague threat which was to be along the lines of killing your daughter, but to do that, the Empire would have to find the Rebel base with the Rebels still there."

"So, we are just threatening to kill you if you release any of that information to the populace, media, or the Senate," Dooku explained.

Padmé stared at the two. They were starting to get on her nerves. "First off, how the hell are you two alive? Second, I wasn't going to say anything anyway for certain reasons. Third, why the hell are you two threatening me like Mafia flunkies? It''s demented."

"We are not we are not at liberty to answer the first question and are glad to hear the statement, and the answer to the second question is that our employers decided to make us suffer by having us do this," Maul explained again. "Our employers are very sadistic."

Padmé stared at the two Dark Lords. "You know, I sincerely doubt this is actually happening. I'm probably asleep at the kitchen table, face down in pizza, and this is all a dream which was brought on by all the stuff going on in the Senate today."

Dooku and Maul exchanged glances, as if to say to each other, "Maybe it would be best not to tell her that she really is awake." They stayed silent as Padmé decided to keep ranting about how unfair the galaxy was being to her today. After about fifteen minutes, the Dark Lords decided to excuse themselves from the premises to avoid the ranting.

Convinced she had (oddly enough) scared off the Dark Lords, Padmé shut the door to the apartment and fell asleep on the couch, determined to shrug the evening off as just a dream when she awoke in the morning.

* * *

The next day, Padmé woke up twenty minutes prior to the first discussion of the day in the Senate. Needless to say, she was a tad rushed in getting ready for work. As a result, she ended up wearing some of her old army fatigues from back during the Naboo Blockade Crisis. After grabbing her briefcase and keys, Padmé flew out the door and was able to hail a cab in less than a minute. She had barely remembered to brush her teeth, much less eat breakfast, so she was hungry the entire way to the Senate. Her efforts did pay off when she arrived at the Senate building a minute prior to the start of the work day. 

After settling down into her seat, Padmé took a look at the schedule for the day. The first item on the list was the election of the new Supreme Chancellor. The list had been narrowed down to two people: Loki Warender (_No surprise there_, she thought) and Senator Quèrque of Esirpretne, a little known system on the Outer Rim. There was a time for open discussion before the debates started, and Padmé remained silent about the true actions of the Empire, not because of her very demented dream the night before but because of the repercussions which would affect the Jedi and the Alliance. When the debates started she listened carefully and reluctantly had to admit that Warender did seem like the better man for the job. Maybe she shouldn't have turned down the nomination for her to run for the position the day before. If she had actually won, then maybe the laws made against the Rebellion could have been nullified. It was too late now.

Finally, the vote was called. Padmé didn't know who she should vote for. Warender knew what he was doing, but Quèrque was better for the well-being of the Republic. Then again, there was always the fill in answer which took the place of a third candidate. Who would she put there, though? She couldn't really say herself; that would be conceited. Padmé sighed and wrote down three names on three pieces of paper. After drawing one randomly, she wrote down that name on the blank provided and cast her vote. Knowing Mon's popularity in the Senate, she probably would be receiving a few percent herself.

It took less than half an hour for the votes to be counted. The soon to be former Supreme Chancellor of the Republic announced the results. "Commander Warender wins the election with fifty-one percent of the vote, followed by Senator Quèrque with twenty-four percent of the vote, then Senator Mothma with seven percent of the vote, Senator Organa with seven percent of the vote, and Senator Amidala with seven percent of the vote, and the remaining four percent was various other Senators."

Padmé was not surprised that Warender won. He probably had supporters of most of the planets that already supported the Empire and supplied them goods. Of course, that meant that the Empire was controlling the majority of the Senate. _I wonder how long he will delay crowning himself Emperor?_ Padmé thought. _I mean, Warender could probably get himself all of the powers Palpatine had given himself by the end of the year. All that really has to happen is that the current Rebel base is discovered._

Warender made his way to the center and started giving his acceptance speech. Padmé completely zoned out at that point and started wondering about whether she should walk out or not. Voting against the majority that the Empire controlled would be meaningless. She did have a duty to represent the people of Naboo, but everything seemed so hopeless now. The Empire was in control of the Senate. At least the Rebellion still lived. Padmé allowed herself a smile. She had been wrong. There was still some hope.

* * *

The Senate had let out early after all sorts of emergency powers were granted to Warender in order to combat the Rebel "threat." Padmé arrived at home at a reasonable hour and was about to go make herself dinner when, for the second day in a row, someone knocked on the door. Since Warender was now in control of the Senate, she was pretty sure that it was a secret police force belonging to the Empire. "I'll be right there!" Padmé called out. She went over to her desk in the office near her and Anakin's room and got out a notepad and pen. After writing a note to Anakin in case the person at the door was an Imperial agent, she went to answer the door. The people standing outside the door were of no surprise to her this time. 

"Hello, Supreme Chancellor," Padmé greeted, smiling coldly. "For what reason do I have this honor?" she asked him, looking over the two guards he had with him for weapons.

Warender smirked. "You know exactly why I'm here, Senator Amidala. You're a member of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor to the Republic. I'm here to make sure that you are in fact detained. The Senate will be informed that you were sent on a mission so as to not arouse suspicion as to why you are missing. I'm only being this kind because you did turn down that nomination yesterday. I'm sure that if you hadn't that you would be Chancellor and not me. I owe you everything. Hence, the kindness."

"Spare me the pleasantries, Warender," Padmé requested. "I understand your reasons for keeping this a secret. Oh, and let me guess, in a year or two once your power has been cemented, I'll be quietly executed, and you will just say that I died in action. Then I'd be a martyr for the Imperial cause, and you will have executed a Rebel leader."

"You have me completely wrong, Amidala," Warender replied condescendingly. "I only wish for a stronger Republic. That's all that the Empire ever wanted."

"You mean a stronger Empire," Padmé retorted. "That so called 'space station' story you had your henchman Pestage spew was less than convincing. People will eventually learn the truth about the Death Star, and more star systems will slip through your fingers!"

"So sure of yourself and your pitiful Rebellion," Warender said disapprovingly, ignoring his former statement. "When the Republic learns of the Death Star's true power, it will be when there is a demonstration on a planet of it. I was thinking of making it Alderaan, but Naboo would do just as well. Of course, when that does happen, the Republic will be no more, and there will only be the Empire and a memory of the traitorous outlaws part of the short lived Rebel Alliance. Nothing more. Liberty will die to the sound of applause."

"Not if the Jedi can help it!" Padmé exclaimed. "They won't allow that to happen!"

"Then I shall rid myself of them in a similar fashion as to what has been done before," Warender told her. "All I have to do is go through with the current program. My emergency powers are more than enough to send the Jedi out on the front again. It will be supremely ironic that the two groups fighting for liberty and peace and justice will massacre each other."

Padmé glared at Warender. "You won't win. People will see through the lies. Oppression always breeds rebellion, Warender. You will only cause more war and death."

"That's the point. You know I'm one of the Sith. We thrive on fear and betrayal!" Warender laughed wickedly. "You of all people should know that!"

"Yes. I know that. And now I've allowed two Sith to come to power in the Senate."

"No, dear girl. Only one. I thought you might have recognized me, but apparently you hadn't." He laughed again. "How do you like my clone? I'm rather handsome now, no?"

Padmé stared at him in wide-eyed shock. "_Palpatine_! You---you're not old! How?"

"I told you already," Palpatine told her. "I'm in the body of a clone of me. I brought myself back to life. Interesting, isn't it? Being a Sith does have its benefits. Now, where is that angry husband of yours? Oh---he's away, isn't he? No matter. I'll just tell him about your 'mission' later. The next thing on my agenda is to find this reality's version of that damned Jedi that managed to talk your husband out of turning to the dark side and the annoying Princess of Alderaan who came up with the idea to find the ysalamir." Palpatine motioned for his guards to handcuff Padmé. "Then I'll find your... daughter, wasn't it?"

"Go to hell!" Padmé told him as the two guards handcuffed her and dragged her out of the apartment. "You'll never find them!"

"Ah, all three are with the Alliance, then?" Palpatine mused. "Oh well. I'll find them sooner or later. And about the hell comment. I've been there. It's actually very nice on the weekends but a pain every other day of the week. Especially Monday. Mondays are evil."

* * *

Adi and Aayla came out of hyperspace a few days later over the planet of Hoth. Somewhat confused, Aayla made sure that the coordinates were correct. "Why would they set up a base on a frozen ball of ice?" she wondered out loud. 

"It seems to me that most of the Rebellion has a few screws loose," Adi commented. "Then again, according to that one testimony, the craziest of the Rebellion thought this planet should be stayed very far away from."

"True." Aayla started their decent, and after a few minutes, they received a call from the Rebel ground control, pretending that the base was a colony and demanding who they were. Aayla exchanged a glance with Adi and then responded. "Alliance Ground Control, this is Jedi Master Aayla Secura with Jedi Master Adi Gallia requesting permission to land."

For about a minute, all Aayla and Adi received for an answer was static. Finally, though, the ground control answered. "Permission granted, Masters Jedi. You're cleared to land at..." the Rebel listed a string of coordinates and cut off the transmission.

"That was easy," Adi commented. "I hadn't thought that they would allow us to land so easily. I'd have thought they would have demanded proof."

"Adi, they do have Corran and Kyle with them," Aayla pointed out. "They can sense a Master at least a mile away. You know how much trouble they avoid."

"Oh, right. I had almost forgotten about the last incident..." Adi said, smiling. "It's been too quiet at the Jedi Temple without those troublemakers. Callista has even gone as far as saying she misses Kyle's essays on the injustices of the grading scale."

"Teneniel and Allya have been much quieter, too. But I suppose that's because of Mara's disappearance as well as the others running off to join the Rebels," Allya added, somewhat melancholy. The two Jedi Masters were silent the rest of the way down to the planet. In the Rebel hangar bay, there was only enough room to set down the ship next to the most beat-up looking freighter that they had ever seen. "Sithspit! Look at that!"

Adi was gaping at the ship. "That poor, poor ship. How could anyone be so cruel to a Corellian freighter of that caliber? It's almost a sacrilege! If I find the pilot..."

Shutting the _Last Crusade_ down, Aalya shook her head. "Remember, anger is for the Dark Side, and the Sith practice revenge. Besides, what if it's a Corellian pilot that owns the ship? And modifications actually do work? And well? Then it'll be all right, correct?"

Glaring at Aayla as they walked to the ramp of the ship, Adi retorted, "No. That's completely different, and you know it. Then he only deserves a swift kick in the a---"

Aayla had elbowed Adi in the side to stop her since they had reached the reception party. Smiling, she began to introduce them with the pre-planned speech, "Hello, we're Jedi Masters Aayla Secura and Adi Gallia. Our purpose here is to gather as much information as possible about the Rebel Alliance so that the Jedi Council can make a decision about whether you truly are a threat to the Republic. You do not have to disclose any confidential information, and the knowledge of the location of the base has not been spread farther in the Order than the Council."

"In other words," Adi said, "We're here to affirm our standpoint that you are and always have been in the right and that the Imps aren't finding out the location of this place from us under any circumstances whatsoever. Also, we brought some real food."

The leader of the group of Rebels shook his head. "I take it that this means you found the information that Rogue Squadron left?" Adi and Aayla nodded. "Figures," the man murmured under his breath before continuing. "In any case, I'm General Carlist Rieekan, and, on behalf of the Rebellion, welcome to Hoth Base. I hope you brought warm clothes because 'something' managed to create a power outage and we're going to be without heat for a few days. I apologize for the inconvenience."

Adi waved it off. "No problem whatsoever! We brought enough clothing and emergency blankets to warm a whole score of people. I'm afraid the Rogues must have exaggerated a bit about the cold, though. If this is how warm the hangar is, then the tunnels and rooms must be a decent temperature."

"About that..." started someone who was covered covered from head to toe in bright orange. "This is the warmest room in the entire base. Oh, and General? I've been charged to tell you that the Rogue/High Command Capture The Flag Game has begun again and that your side is losing already. Oh, and Luke's working on the whole heating problem with the engineers since he caught that cold the last time he got pelted with snow."

"And this is Ensign Derek Klivian," Rieekan introduced the orange pile of blankets. "He's a member of the infamous Rogue Squadron, whose leader has abandoned them to do something productive rather than something against Alliance directives."

"Luke always was a good kid," Aayla replied. "Except for when Corran and Kyle decided to include him in some half-baked scheme to... do stuff."

"Like the time Corran and Kyle decided to tape 'Kick-me' signs on the backs of all of the Council members for April Fools," Adi explained. "Then Anakin, the former master prankster, decided to join them in their efforts. He denied all involvement, of course."

There was a moment of awkward silence before Rieekan spoke up again. "So, what would you like to know about the Rebellion? General statistics? Our version of battles? Would you like to interview some of the soldiers?"

"The interview option sounds nice," Aayla decided. "You see, we're not supposed to tell anyone, but we're just looking for excuses to side with you, and this would probably the perfect chance to do so. If we could find some of the best people to interview, then---"

"I think I know just the people," Rieekan said, cutting her off. "Unfortunately..."

"Let me guess: they're completely and totally mad," Adi suggested. "Or, even worse, one of them is the owner of that poor, poor YT-1300."

"...Yes, one of them is Major Solo, and I completely agree. The _Millennium Falcon_ may be the fastest ship in the fleet, but it's a crime as to how bad that ship looks." Rieekan shook his head. "Solo won't even give it a new paint job!"

"Disgraceful..." Adi shook her head, too, as they started off toward the barracks, following Ensign Klivian, who was heading back towards the snowball fight. On the way there, Adi counted fifteen snowballs hit General Rieekan and none hit Klivian. The only conclusion she could draw was that they were in "Rogue Territory." Eventually, they reached a pilot's break room in which the Rogues were hiding out in and plotting snowball tactics against the High Command. Rieekan opened the door and was showered with a flurry of thrown snowballs. One of the perpetrators came out of the room to investigate and saw the two Jedi Masters and Klivian. Adi decided immediately that he was Corellian.

"Who the hell are you?" the Corellian demanded of the Jedi Masters. He turned to Hobbie. "What the hell's going on? Corran suddenly split a few minutes ago, and Kyle's hiding in one of the storage lockers."

Aayla laughed. "A storage locker? Tsk, tsk, tsk. He's losing form. Kyle used to hide in the ceiling ducts to avoid trouble. Now he's merely locking himself in lockers?"

"Oh, you're Jedi then?" the Corellian asked, trying to be more polite. "That certainly does explain why all of the Jedi in training suddenly made themselves scarce. Are you coming to take them back? Or must we suffer more of Kyle and Corran?"

"Han, where's Luke?" Klivian queried. "Do you know which of the power generators the mechanics are having him work on? I was over near bunker theta when you guys called me back to tell Rieekan we'd started up the snowball fight again. Oh, and Senator Mothma said that we're approved for the scouting mission for our new base."

"Mon actually approved Rogue squadron to take on that mission?" Rieekan interjected. "After what happened last time! You took a vacation!"

Han looked around at their surroundings and he eventually finished with staring at Rieekan in the eye. "Can you seriously blame us for wanting to escape this frozen hell? What you wanted us to do could have as easily been done by a droid. Quite frankly, I think we're better off going to Naboo than staying on Hoth and all getting sick before returning to Citenik and spreading the illness to the rest of the Rebellion. If we're going to a semi-decent planet this time, then we won't leave the planet and there will be no problem."

"Major Solo, you do know that all of you have not been court-martialed since you got away with that little stunt on the technicality that you would have had permission to find a medical facility to have those two treated for whatever they caught. Since then, however, those two have fallen ill with that disease multiple times," Rieekan reprimanded him before turning to Adi and Aayla and introducing Solo. "And this is Major Solo, captain of the _Millennium Falcon_ and unofficial member of Rogue Squadron. Now if you excuse me, I must be leaving. I don't wish to be pelted with snowballs for much longer, and I do have to report to Senators Mothma, Bel Ibis, and Organa."

"I am not part of that squad! I don't want to be connected with that crazy group! (No offense, Hobbie) They only drag me into their schemes!" Solo retorted. "They also get me to fly them everywhere! Well, at least the core group of insanity..."

"And Leia," Hobbie added. "Oh, and no offense taken. We, the Rogues, are nuts."

"It's nice to meet you, Major Solo," Aayla said. "I'm Aayla Secura and this is Adi Gallia. We're both Jedi Masters and on the Jedi Council. We were wondering if you know of anyone who would like to be interviewed by us for a project that the Council is doing."

Solo and Hobbie stared at her and Adi. Solo was the one that found his voice first. "Wait a sec, does this have anything to do with the Council supposedly wanting to find excuses to prove the Empire wrong and join up with the Rebellion?"

"Was it Corran or Kyle that couldn't keep his mouth shut?" Adi asked, annoyed.

"Uh, it was Leia," Hobbie replied. "Apparently her mom has friends on the Council."

"Leia? You're friends with her?" Aayla asked, a little surprised, before slapping herself on the forehead. "Of course! I forgot! You went on the mission to Hoth together. And Solo, I think that you would be happy to know that Leia's parents were ...happy... that someone like you was taking care of their daughter. It's a long story, but they know you from somewhere, so don't go demanding how they would know that you're a good person."

"Who are her parents?" Klivian inquired. "I mean, we figured out that Bail's only her godfather after about half a year. She never talks much about either of her parents."

Aayla and Adi exchanged glances. "Well, she probably has a very good reason for not saying anything, and it isn't our place to tell what she doesn't want the entire Alliance to know about," Adi replied. Seeing the confused look on Klivian's face, she explained. "Thanks to your squadron's idea to leave that information back at your base on Citenik, we know that the Rogues can spread information like wildfire... Or, in this planet's case, snow."

"Oh, so you did get the information," Solo said. "I was wondering how you knew to come here to see the Rebellion. I guess this means Dack and Zev lost that bet."

"Solo? I have a question for you," Adi said. "Why do you keep your ship in such a disgraceful condition? It's looks almost like a ghost ship out of a horror holovid. You should be ashamed to be Corellian and keep that ship like it is."

"It makes point five past lightspeed."

"I stand corrected. But it does need a new paint job." Adi shook her head. "Anyway, would you---and Rogue Squadron, if you can convince them---participate in this survey we're trying to do? The faster it happens, the faster we can help you and quit the Empire."

Kyle walked out of the room before Han could answer. "I could convince some of the commandoes to help, too," he declared. "Oh, and Hobbie? Wes wants a progress report."

"I can't do everything, you know!" Hobbie exclaimed. "I haven't even been back for ten minutes, and he expects me to report what's going on with the snowball fight?" He walked back into the room, muttering about the injustices of the system.

"Katarn, I would like to inform you that most of your instructors actually miss you, but only two of the Jedi Masters would like to say good riddance," Aayla reported. "I'll leave you to guess which green 'troll' as to which I am referring and other permanent Council member. But, as of this moment, that is besides the point."

"The other part of our mission is concerning Mara," Adi explained. "She's been missing for some time, and as her teacher, I feel responsible for her disappearance. The question is whether you know if she's joined the Rebellion and neglected to inform us, or whether she did not join. Any information would be greatly appreciated."

"She's not part of the Rebellion," Kyle answered. "I haven't seen her since Corran and I left the Temple, and neither has any of the others. Leia and Luke would have said something. Han doesn't know her, but I think he'd say something if he saw her."

"Who are we talking about?" Han asked. "The name does sound familiar."

"Mara Jade. She's one of our friends who we thought was back on Coruscant. We did tell you that story about how I managed to get her to wear a dress in pink, no less, right? She's the girl that Luke likes, no matter how much he denies it," Kyle explained.

"Right. Now I remember. Wes told the story back on Naboo. I think that Chewie and I had almost gone to the same restaurant that you guys went to. I eventually talked Chewie into going to Dex's Diner since we didn't have all that much money at the time."

"Mara's missing? Since when?" Leia, who had been standing in the doorway, asked. "What happened?" She turned and saw Adi and Aayla. "This doesn't have anything to---"

"Don't worry, your parents didn't hire us to take you back to Coruscant. One of them is driving us to distraction, though," Adi said, smiling. "However... We haven't known where Mara is since Rogue Squadron and the 181st skirmished at Selttiks."

"But you have a theory," Leia pressed. "What is it? If she isn't here, then where---No. You can't possibly think that... She didn't seem the type to do that."

"We're not so sure she joined by her own free will," Aayla said. "In fact, your father believes that it's all a plot by the leader of the Empire. The rest of the information is classified at the moment. It would probably be better if you didn't know for the time being."

"So Palpatine is back, then," Kyle said. "We've always suspected that, you know."

"Mara never said anything about that dream she had right before I left?" Leia asked.

Aayla shook her head. "No, she did tell Obi-Wan and Anakin, but Anakin said that it was one of the dreams she'd had before. I've been starting to doubt what he said, but he probably has a good reason for not saying anything. He told us the important part, though."

"Which important part?" Leia asked, suddenly remembering a phrase Mara had spoken right after she had woken up from that dream which had to do with the Sith. If the Jedi Masters didn't know, then she would better not tell them about it.

Adi stared at Leia. "Just Palpatine's location and condition. Was there something more to the vision? Or was it just more of her nightmares about what would have been?"

"No, there was nothing else," Leia amended hurriedly. "I was just confused."

"Okay. Well, since you are here, would you like to participate in our survey?" Aayla asked cheerfully before frowning. "Oh Force, I sound like a holomarketer."

* * *

Anakin had had a bad week so far. Not only had Padmé been missing for the whole of said week since she was apparently off on some mission for the new Chancellor (Anakin didn't buy that explanation), but the Council had to meet the new Chancellor, too. They had been putting it off for the entire week since they had returned, but the time had finally come when they could put it off no longer. What was worse was that Adi was having trouble making sure the holotransmission did not betray her location and that of the Rebel base. Anakin took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair, waiting for the Chancellor to enter. 

He didn't have to wait long since the Chancellor entered a few seconds later. To Anakin, the Chancellor looked eerily familiar, and the Chancellor's presence in the Force was all too familiar, but to Anakin's dismay, he couldn't quite put a finger on where he had felt it before. The Chancellor smiled sickeningly sweetly, and Anakin decided he felt like barfing. "Hello, it is an honor and a pleasure to meet all of you. I am Loki Warender, the newly elected Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, and in case you didn't know, I am also the military leader of the Empire," Warender introduced himself. Anakin narrowed his eyes. _Dual alliances? Not likely. He's the Emperor's man through and through_, Anakin decided.

As the new Chancellor began to drone on about how he was planning to utilize the Jedi in the new Galactic Civil War, Anakin zoned him out and started talking to Obi-Wan telepathically. _/I don't trust him. There's something strange going on. /_

_/No there isn't, Anakin. You're being paranoid. The Empire may be under the command of the Sith, but unless he's the fourth that you were so disturbed by, then nothing is wrong for the time being,-/_ Obi-Wan replied. _/Besides, if this was one of the Sith, then---/_

A thought struck Anakin. _/Obi-Wan... What if _he_'s Palpatine? There was a legend where a Sith transferred his spirit into the body of another. And don't pretend that you can't sense his presence either. It absolutely reeks of the Dark Side. /_

_/That may just be a residual effect from being around the Sith,-/ _Obi-Wan pointed out.

Mace sent a warning glare their way. _/Would you two be quiet? It's hard to listen to two conversations at once, and while I agree with you, Anakin, you should be paying attention to what the Chancellor is saying, not coming up with conspiracy theories. /_

The two fell silent at that and went back to listening to the new Chancellor. "...I believe that the Republic will not be safe until this meaningless Rebellion has been crushed. If it means that the Republic has to be plunged back into war, then so be it. I am just glad that the Jedi have yet again chosen the correct side."

_/Okay, that's just screaming maniacal laughter and want to take over the galaxy. Can you really not believe that this guy is a psychopath, Obi-Wan?-/_

_/Anakin, would you be quiet? You're imagining things! He doesn't even have that dark a presence, so where is the big evil aura coming from?-/_

_/Quiet, you two should be. Annoying, your incessant bickering is. Like an old married couple, you are. A joke about my age, Skywalker, you should not make. /_

_/Sorry, Master Yoda,-/_ both Obi-Wan and Anakin apologized before yet again falling silent. Anakin almost fell asleep through all of the subtle evil speech making which was more likely to bore him to death than be of any use to him in the time to come. Then came a mildly interesting portion of the obviously well-rehearsed speech. "...and so I would like to report that the Empire's spy network has discovered which sector the Rebel base is in, and we are likely to launch an attack within the next four months. Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go in our search because of the multitude of uninhabited planets in the sector. It will take a week or more to travel to the base in addition to the planning time which would cause the four month time frame. I will make sure that you receive the information as soon as we have it. The Order's help in the matter would be greatly appreciated.

"Furthermore, I would like to address a certain matter which has come to my attention. I have received reports from various sources that there are Jedi in the ranks of the Rebellion. Is this true? I was under the impression that all of the Jedi were loyal to the Republic, so why would some be with the Rebellion? Or are my reports incorrect?"

Anakin hid a grin with his hand and replied as deadpan as he possibly could. "No, they're correct. Some of the older Padawans decided that it was necessary to join the Rebellion to defend the Republic. They think that the Empire is trying to take over." Anakin thought about ending it there, but the rest of the Council would be a little angry, so he continued. "It's a preposterous idea, but they thought it was correct. However, a few Padawans joined the Empire. It's a horrific thought that they might meet each other in battle."

The Chancellor nodded gravely. "I fear this war may tear many families apart. It may be even more disastrous than the Clone Wars, but we can only hope it will not be so. Hopefully, these rebellious teenagers you speak of will figure out that the Rebellion will only spell doom for the Republic and come back and join the correct side."

_/Nice save, Anakin/_ Aaron thought. _/I don't know if many of us could have bluffed our way through that one./ _He paused. _/I'm starting to think you're right about this guy, though. /_

_/I told you there was something weird about him. Besides, do you see how sure he is of himself? Almost as if he didn't care if the Rebellion was defeated just yet, but that it would be more important to tarnish its name before he annihilated it. /_

_/If one of us admits we think Warender's a Dark Lord, will you stay quiet?-/_ Mace demanded. _/It's starting to get rather annoying, and we need to be searching for problems with what he's saying so we have some legal standing to ignore his orders. /_

_/You think so, too? Wow. This must be one of the few things we actually agree about... Okay. I'll stay silent for a while,-/ _Anakin decided and started to pay close attention.

"...I hope that the Jedi will join the great majority; that would be for the good of the Republic. Then the Rebellion will be crushed. It is a wonderful thing to hope for," Warender said. He looked at his watch. "Well, I must be away. It is time for one of my appointments with a group of Senators. If you'll excuse me..."

Yoda nodded. "Most enlightening, our conversation was. Look forward to the next, we all shall," he said. The Chancellor bowed a few degrees and walked out the door. Once he was gone, Yoda looked around the room. "Say wrong, what did he?"

"That euphemism at the end was a little obvious," Depa commented. "Even for a Sith Lord, it was obvious." She only received confused stares. "That phrase he used, 'join the great majority' is a euphemism for dying. Yes, it is less obvious than 'kick the bucket,' but it means the same thing, nonetheless. He wants us, and the Republic, dead."

"Because he was also insinuating that 'the great majority' would be including the Republic?" Mace asked. "That seems a little ungrounded. However, I have no doubt that he does mean harm to the Rebellion and the Jedi. If you noticed, he avoided the subject of any Jedi joining the ranks of the Empire. I think it might have been on purpose in order to smooth over the remark. That may go towards proof of the involvement of the Sith."

"He may also not have noticed or had been concentrating on the subject of the Jedi in the ranks of the Rebellion," Obi-Wan pointed out. "Also, as to the 'great majority' comment, he might have not known that the phrase was a euphemism for dying."

"And Gammoreans may fly," Anakin replied. "Seriously, was there any doubt whatsoever with us as to whether the Empire was evil? We knew about the Death Star, and we're almost positive that there are four Sith leading them. Quite frankly, I say that Warender is actually Palpatine. He certainly acts like the conceited megalomaniac."

"Argue, we should not," Yoda declared. "Agreed that we should be with the Rebellion, it has been. Find the true identity of the Chancellor, we shall, but at hand, more important matters are. If to fight alongside the Rebellion, the Jedi are, then find a suitable place to hide the younglings, we should. Let them be caught up in the war, we shall not."

"We also need a base of operations," Adi commented from Hoth. "We cannot travel with the Rebellion; that would only endanger all of us more. The Council and the Jedi need a place far enough away from the Core and still a suitable distance from the Rebel base."

"Anywhere but Myrkr," Aaron said. "We cannot go there. It would be the first place that the Sith would look, and if there was a smuggler exodus from the planet, then the Empire would most certainly know where we would be."

"What about Honoghr?" Plo suggested. "The Noghri would probably be ecstatic to have Anakin with them for an indefinite period of time, and we, by virtue of being his coworkers, would probably be treated pretty well, too."

Anakin stared at Plo. "No. We are not going there under any condition. I'd just as soon suggest that we go hide on Tatooine, and you know how much I love that planet."

"If worst came to worst, we could always camp out on Korriban," Aayla suggested sarcastically. "Then we'd all go crazy or to the Dark Side within a week or less, guaranteed."

"Dagobah it is," Yoda decided. "A nice planet, Dagobah is. Cook for you all, I will. As to the younglings, the youngest to Honoghr, we shall send. The younger Padawans to Ithor, we shall send. Outposts for the normal Jedi there shall be on Dathomir, Bakura, maybe Barab 1, Kashyyyk, and Myrkr. No complaints should you have."

"I hope Dagobah is warmer than Hoth," Adi said. "If it's not, then I'm going to Myrkr."

"I've heard it's lovely there in the summer," Aayla added. "Dathomir, too."

"I'm allergic to Dathomir. It's a genetic thing with people from Corellia. See? Even Solo's allergic!" Adi pointed and looked off screen. "He won the planet in a card game!"

"Regardless of who has won any planet in a card game, we do need to devise a plan to evacuate all of the Jedi," Mace pointed out. "One option would be to send all of the Jedi off on missions to various places as covers, but their real orders would be to take some of the children to their assigned planets and go to their specified base of operations."

"We should have at least five Jedi Masters with each group of children," Depa suggested. "A few Jedi Knights should be stationed with them as well. They would be able to hide their presence in the Force from the Sith, but would be able to sufficiently defend the children. Also, maybe we should send some of the youngest children back to their parents or relatives for the duration of this situation. The Archives would have to be shut down to prevent any data loss, tampering, or slicing."

"Jocasta won't be very happy about having to leave the Archives unprotected," Plo noted. "However, I think that Depa's ideas are for the better. We need to make sure that the Empire cannot track us, any of our peers, or the children. If the Empire found them..."

"That's an unhappy thought which we will hopefully not have to deal with," Obi-Wan reassured him. "We should start the exodus as soon as possible, but it has to be done slowly so as not to arouse suspicion, especially with the increase in Senators 'going on missions' from the Supreme Chancellor. It makes you think that there's a secret police."

"We need to keep up appearances, and do whatever the Chancellor says," Anakin continued drearily. "Within reason, of course. We shouldn't follow an order to, say, jump off a cliff or one which purposefully incriminate the Jedi of sedition and treason."

"Not that we aren't guilty of doing that," Aayla added. "We're being treasonous to a Republic which is being controlled by the Empire. That isn't the same as treason to just the Republic. We're going to help the Rebel Alliance, whose goal is to save the Republic."

"The Republic is dead. Long live the Empire. May God have mercy on our souls..."

"Stop being so melodramatic, Anakin," Adi said. "It's unbecoming of a Jedi Master."

* * *

Anakin sighed. It was his third week working with Warender, and he was already fed up with the job. He had been since day one after working for a few minutes. If Anakin didn't know better, he could swear that Warender was using him as a personal secretary. The worst part of the job was that whenever a Senator or important diplomat was coming to meet with Warender, Anakin would have to page the Chancellor and wait for the lazy bum (or sadistic psychopath) to come out and put both the Jedi and politician out of their misery. It was disquieting to have to wait in an office with years old magazines while one of the best known heroes of the Clone Wars stared at you and everything else in the room like he wanted to kill something. Anakin was trying to perfect the glare again. It hadn't been in use since the Wars, and he needed some sort of facial expression to wear whenever Palpatine and the other Sith Lords showed themselves again. Alas, he could only practice and wait. 

The first appointments of the day had been with various Senators, Bail included. Bail had been a little confused as to why Anakin was glaring at everything, but had soon been enlightened by the rankled Jedi in Ancient Alderaanian interspersed with profane Huttese. Later on, at lunch, Anakin had been mocked by the rest of the secretary community for reasons unknown. In Anakin's opinion, it was because he had chosen to make a war zone out of his plate and food, complete with little bits of carrot to symbolize certain politicians and Dark Lords. The other secretaries didn't know that bit about the carrots, but they had been laughing at him also because he was wearing the new uniform for the Naval Corps. It was the single ugliest piece of clothing on the planet, and Anakin knew it. In fact, that was the reason he had chosen the particular piece of revolting fabric. The others didn't know how light they had been let off. He could have shown up to work in a suit and cape and decided to hang from the ceiling like a mynock for the entire day. That would show Warender.

Currently, Anakin was supposed to be filing paperwork. Instead, he was playing an ancient hologame which was only 2D and black and white. As far as he knew, it was entitled Pong. Even though the graphics were primitive, to say the least, it was strangely addicting. He had been playing the game since lunch had ended. Sometime after lunch, Jar Jar had had an appointment with Warender, and Anakin had talked to the Gungan for a while. It really passed the time: he played ten games of Pong during the conversation. Anakin finally had understood why Padmé liked having Jar Jar with her during Senate debates. It took three more games of Pong after Jar Jar was called into Warender's office for another person to arrive for an appointment. The man was definitely not human, but obviously an Imperial lackey. Anakin was less surprised than bored by this new player's appearance.

"Nice day, isn't it?" Anakin asked the stranger, starting a new game of Pong and scoring a point against his computerized opponent. He vaguely wondered if Pong was based off of table tennis, the bane of his gym experiences. It was worse than dodge ball.

"Yes," the other replied. "What game are you playing?" he inquired, rather curious.

"Pong. It's addicting. I should be filing paperwork right now, but I'm being spiteful and not doing that to annoy Warender, whom I happen to think is a---Never mind."

"What do you think Warender is?" the man asked. "An inquiring mind wants to know."

"Many things, among them are certain words which only a Corellian space pirate could get away with saying in this humble hall," Anakin replied deadpan. That was his new tone of voice that he had been perfecting in order to annoy the Sith.

"What is a Jedi like you doing in a place like this?" Mr. Glow-in-the-dark Eyes asked.

"Playing Pong on a computer while talking to some guy who wants to see a Dark Lord of the Sith. It's actually very simple once you understand the fact that I'm not paranoid and that no one would believe me even if I told them about that. Well, maybe not _you_."

The Imperial smiled and straightened slightly. "What do you mean?" he queried.

Anakin stared boredly at the man. "You know exactly what I mean. We both hate his freaking guts. You're silently plotting his fall, and I'm making his social life hell while wasting electricity playing Pong. I'm getting the Sith hell out of here as soon as possible."

"I am plotting to destroy him? Right. I can understand you doing that, but me? That is doubtful," the Imperial replied. "Now, why would you, a decorated Jedi war hero, be here?"

"Trust me, I didn't expect to be here acting as Palpatine's personal secretary. In fact, I had hoped that the Emperor had stayed dead, but, alas, he just couldn't stay six feet under like a normal, civilized being." Anakin smiled slightly. "Unlike you, of course."

The Imperial's smile never faltered. "Warender is unlike me in that I would stay dead or that I'm a civilized being? I am almost positive you did not mean the staying dead part, but as your temperament is legendary, I was not completely sure of that."

Anakin shook his head, grinning. "You're right. I meant that you're normal and civilized, but staying deceased does apply to most beings in the universe. You know, you're one of the most agreeable people to have come through this office in the past three weeks."

"You happen to be one of the most agreeable of Warender's employees," the white-uniformed Imperial replied. "Most of my colleagues seem to have some sort of attitude problem. Some are overly obsequious, and it irritates the rest of us to no end. There are also some with anger management problems, something I have been told you also have problems with." Anakin shrugged, and the Imperial continued, "We have been having some staffing concerns over them. Our ranks are increasingly driven by how many words can be said to those coworkers before they lose patience and have the cause of irritation ...removed. I am sure you understand what I mean by that. The rest of the problems I have with any of my associates come from their incurable arrogance."

"Sounds like an exciting work environment," Anakin commented. "There's danger in my job---my _normal_ job---but the Jedi tend only to have enemies outside our ranks, not within. When do you think the next attack on the Rebels will take place?"

The Imperial seemed thoughtful, and Anakin decided that the Imperial was actually going to answer. "I think we will still be another month to another three months. You see, Mr. Skywalker, we---the Empire---still has not pinpointed the location of the Rebel Base. To do all of the logistics to the smallest degree of error, I and the other Admirals, as well as the generals, need to know where the base is to plan the amount of rations, fuel, and ships needed for the assault. Say the Rebels were at Hoth. We would have different calculations for rations and fuel than if the base was at Dantooine. The size of the Rebel forces would determine the number of ships we would need, and that would change all of the calculations. It's all very complicated, but you probably understand what I am talking about, given your record during the Clone Wars," the Imperial explained. "I actually wonder if we are going about the destruction of the Alliance in the proper manner sometimes.

"You must understand, I think about it very rarely. You see, the leaders of the Rebellion are Corellian, Alderaanian, and Chandrilan. Alderaanians are not warlike people, and it is evident that one of the leaders is such since the Chandrilan and Corellian are balanced by that leader. The Chandrilan people love to debate, and the Corellian people will argue about anything, hence how I drew the conclusion about the third of the leaders. The Corellian influence was evident in the fighting styles of the Rebel fighters. Most seem to have a complete disregard for the odds (a well known Corellian attribute), but the commanders hold back a bit since they have to pay a little more attention. The Rebellion also has a Mon Calamarian admiral, but I haven't been in an engagement with him yet."

Anakin blinked. "Why would the home worlds of the leaders, both military and political, be all that important? Does it shape their strategies that much?" he asked. A thought struck him shortly thereafter. "Or does an analysis reveal to you their weaknesses?"

The Imperial Admiral smiled again. "You're brighter than the newspapers make you out to be. And, yes to your questions. I am proficient in a certain type of psychological analysis of their people and sometimes the subject reveals to be how they are most likely to shape their strategies and movements as well as to revealing the fatal flaw of the culture."

"That's absolutely amazing... Do you lead most of the battles?" Anakin asked, genuinely amazed and curious. "I mean that it would be a complete waste to keep you on the sidelines. You would probably be able to defeat the Alliance more quickly than Pa---Warender could ever accomplish. Heck, any of the other Imperials I've met, too."

The admiral shook his head. "No. I do not. It is a matter of secrecy. If the Rebellion knew of my existence, then they could try to hire assassins to kill me. It would be highly unlikely that they would succeed, but the rest feel as if it is too much of a risk. Quite frankly, I feel that I am at less risk than one of my esteemed colleagues who have respiratory problems. I should be more specific: the one who coughs constantly."

Anakin wasn't quite sure that he heard the admiral correctly. "Wait, you mean General Grievous is somehow alive again? And he still hasn't gotten the coughing thing fixed?"

"No, he has still not had the 'coughing thing' fixed," the admiral replied, amused by Anakin's choice of words. "Believe it or not, I counted one hundred and thirty-seven coughs made by Grievous in the duration of a single meeting on how to crush the Rebel base."

"You're speaking of Citenik, correct?" Anakin asked. "I wouldn't think that you would have a meeting that long about how to destroy the Rebels at their current base."

The admiral grimaced. "My thoughts exactly. We spent a good few hours debating about who would lead the attack on a base we have not even located yet. If it had not happened to me, I would have thought that the mere idea was inconceivable."

Anakin nodded in agreement and was about to reply, but he noticed that Jar Jar's appointment was almost over according to the little light-up message board on the corner of his desk. "It's almost time for you to have your meeting with Chancellor Warender..."

The admiral checked his watch. "So it is. I expected him to be a little longer with Representative Binks, though." Standing up, the admiral turned back to Anakin. "It has been a pleasure to meet you, Jedi Master Skywalker. Our conversation was more intelligent than some that I have had in the recent past and very much more entertaining."

Anakin absentmindedly closed the application for Pong on his computer and stood up. "Likewise. I hope we meet again under better circumstances, Admiral...?"

The blue-black haired alien with bluish skin and glowing red eyes smiled enigmatically once more. "Grand Admiral, actually. I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. I am Mitth'raw'nuruodo, but you may call me Thrawn."

Anakin grinned. "Until next time, Thrawn." The Grand Admiral nodded and walked into the office which was currently being withdrawn from by Jar Jar, who had paused at the door to watch Thrawn enter the office before continuing on his way, which happened to be talking to Anakin for a while again. "What was that all about, Jar Jar?"

"Meesa not so sure," Jar Jar replied, his confusion evident in his tone of voice. "Do yousa know whereabouts Padmé's been lately? Meesa okiedokie wid replacen her in da Senate for a while, but id ain't like Padmé ta take off widout tellen anybodies."

Anakin grimaced. "I know. It's so weird. She did leave a letter to me, and it was in her handwriting, so I knew it was her. It wasn't scripted either, but there does seem to be something strange going on. I might just be being paranoid, though. You know me."

Jar Jar nodded sagely. "Meesa agree completely. Dere's definitely sometin wrong hereabouts. However, mebbe 'tis sometin ta do wid de Chancellor? Hesa all right, but sometin's not quite right 'boud'im. Den dere's dat Admiral guy. Hesa ain't as strange as some of da other peoples that have been hangen 'round da Chancellor, but dere are some weirdoes. Well, not so weird looken, but weird acten. Very, very weird acten."

"I understand Jar Jar." Anakin sighed. "Where could Padmé have gone off to? She would never have accepted an actual mission from the current Chancellor."

"Mebbe shesa not really on a mission. Mebbe sometin bombad's goen down at da Senate. Recently, more and more Senators have gone missen. Well, besides de normal ones dat go every so often, but dey's been going off more and more recently." Jar Jar suddenly searched his pockets and brought out a piece of paper. "Dis is for yous. Padmé wrote id right before shesa went home from work da night before she went missen. Shesa told meesa ta give dis ta yous if shesa went missen for more than a short while. Meesa figured dat dis has been enough time between da day she left ta now."

Anakin took the piece of paper and smiled at the Gungan. "Thank you, Jar Jar... Keep safe, all right? The Republic's starting to get more dangerous to everyone."

"Meesa will stay outta trouble as best as meesa can," Jar Jar replied and nodded before walking off to go to wherever he was supposed to be at that moment.

Once Jar Jar was gone, Anakin sat down back at his desk, which he suspected was soon to be absent of him forever, and opened the letter from Padmé. He took a deep breath and started to read. _"Ani, Warender was elected today. I'm sure you probably already know that if you're reading this letter, though. You were right. The Sith are alive. Maul and Dooku came around to the apartment last night and threatened me. Maul would make a good Mafia flunkey, but that is besides the point. I should have accepted the nomination for Chancellor; we wouldn't be in this mess if I had. I know that. Later tonight, I'll write the letter you've probably already read. I'll have said something ridiculous about how I just went on a Senate sanctioned mission and not to worry, but by the time you're reading this, I'll be glad I wrote this. Seriously, Anakin, I'm probably in some secret prison at the moment, and I would not want you to not come after me. Don't rush, though. Help the Rebellion first. I know you'll probably come rushing off to save me, but you have no clue where I am. I suspect Warender is one of the Sith, so beware of him until it's obvious who's side everyone is on. After that... all bets are off. Give 'em hell & don't forget to save me. I'll haunt you from the grave if you don't. Regardless, I love you, and I'll be waiting. ---Padmé"_

* * *

On Mustafar, Darth Vader wondered why Palpatine had insisted that they keep the base of operations on the fiery planet. In his mind, Palpatine was just being sadistic, as usual. It was bad enough that Vader had to walk around the facility he remembered dueling Obi-Wan on, but having Mara Jade follow him around was over the top. Sure, she was a different person, but Jade still happened to annoy the hell out of him. Luckily for everyone at the base, things were going to change very soon. Jade was supposed to be sent off on a mission, which would make Vader, and the rest of the base by default, a little less angry. 

While stomping without purpose around the facility, Vader looked at the memo that had been sent to all of the Sith and Ventress. Speaking of Ventress, Vader hated her, too. That was only natural, though, since they had been on different sides of a war at one point. The memo, on the other hand, was the schedule of the day. Thrawn had recently arrived at Mustafar after his trip to Coruscant and had brought back the concept of the memo, which had been Palpatine's idea, apparently. Thrawn seemed to hate the evil messages as much as Vader did. Regardless, the memo to the Sith had multiple events planned: interrogate the prisoners, have a "bonding session" with either the normal soldiers or each other (the Sith had chosen the latter after much deliberation and retching at the very idea of bonding), collectively give the Emperor's Hand a mission, and attend the strategy meeting.

Vader had been assigned to interrogate the newest prisoner. She was apparently a Senator, and that brought back bad memories, hence the storming around the complex. He only had about a quarter of an hour left to do the interrogation, but Vader had long decided to take the consequences rather than emotionally scar himself any more than he needed to. Speaking of emotionally scarring people, Vader made a mental reminder to plan how to improve the events at Bespin. The next assignment of the day was less than amusing. The idea of sitting in a room with two Dark Lords, a Dark Jedi, and a hologram of a Dark Lord (_please let Palpatine have something better to do_) for at least an hour was disturbing to say the least. Sending Jade off to Hoth would be very nice, though. At least, Vader _hoped_ that Jade would be sent to Hoth or any other of the extreme weather planets except for Mustafar. He smiled at the thought that he knew that Hoth was the location of the Rebel base but neglected to tell anyone. It was more fun that way. Vader had the sneaking suspicion that Thrawn actually did know, but wasn't saying anything. It didn't matter.

Suddenly, Vader stopped. He narrowed his eyes as he realized that he had subconsciously walked to the prison area. Not only that, but he had stopped right outside the cell of the Senator he was supposed to be interrogating. According to the reports that the Intelligence operatives had given him, said Senator had responded to none of the conventional techniques used to acquire information. Vader idly entertained the thought of the Senator being Princess Leia, but dismissed it more quickly than it had come to mind. The Princess was definitely on Hoth like the rest of the Rebels. Finally giving up, he walked over to the door and typed in the code to unlock the door. It slid open, and once he saw whom he was supposed to be interrogating, Vader shut the door again. It just had to be _her_, didn't it? Vader had almost forgotten that not only was _she_ alive, but _he_ was alive, and Anakin had never turned to the Dark Side. Wanting be be absolutely sure he wasn't hallucinating, Vader opened and shut the door again. No, _she_ was still there. Staring at him like he was insane, too. But who wouldn't think that he was completely mad in this situation?

Collecting himself, Vader once again opened the door, but he managed to walk inside this time. For his efforts, he was greeted with the sarcastic voice of the Senator from Naboo. "Sure took you long enough. What was with the door? Having technical difficulty?"

_It's someone else who sounds and looks exactly like her,_ Vader tried to convince himself. It didn't work. _Oh, come off it. Pretend she's Princess Leia. No, that makes it worse._ "Senator Amidala. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said on autopilot. "We will now discuss the location of the Rebel base. I'm sure that you know of it; you're one of their leaders."

The Senator snorted. "Always quick to suppose things, aren't you Imperials? What are you supposed to be? A badly thought-out plan on how to scare me into telling?" she demanded. Sarcasm had always been her defense mechanism. Still was, apparently.

Vader paused. How wrong she was. "No. I am a Dark Lord of the Sith. I'm here because the Imperial agents were too inept to extract any information out of you." _Pretend she's Princess---No! It makes it worse, dammit!_ "Now, the location of the Rebel base?"

"This is the interrogation?" the Senator demanded. "I expected something a little better. You are a pretty pathetic interrogator, Dark Lord or not. Can you not get it through your head that I am never going to tell the location?" The Senator was glaring at Vader.

Unsure of what to do, Vader decided to just tell what he considered a ghost from the past come back to haunt him the truth. "I actually know the location of the base. Not from any information acquired from you, by the way, but just because I know it. They are on Hoth."

The Senator's eyes widened. "Wh-what? How---but that's---Wait. Why haven't you told any of the other Imperials if you knew about the base? The Rebellion would have---"

"Spite. That's why." _You're lying, Vader. You're being delusional._ "Others know of the location. We just do not feel inclined to tell our superior of the information. When the base is moved off of Mustafar, then we might tell Palpatine, but not before." Vader decided to add more. "And don't worry about your son. He'll get off of Hoth in one piece."

Padmé stared at him. "How do you know about---" She stopped as soon as she realized whom she was really talking to. "So that's why Anakin was so rattled... and that's why you know about Hoth!" She paused again. "And why you were messing with the door. That makes all too much sense now," Padmé reflected.

Vader twitched. "I'm leaving." _Great. I'm jealous of myself. This is definitely a new low which is soon to get lower at Dark Lords Anonymous..._ Vader opened the door and was about to leave when Padmé---_I'm jealous of myself! DAMMIT!_---spoke.

"...Vader? ...For not saying anything about... Well, you know. Just... Thank you."

He left the room, and after the door had slammed shut and automatically locked itself, the shell of a man who had once been Anakin Skywalker replied, "You're welcome."

* * *

Twenty minutes or so later, Vader had regained his composure and devil may care attitude and was sitting in a room with Maul, Dooku and Ventress. Palpatine had been unable to make the appointment because his secretary had suddenly quit. Vader had momentarily wonder what poor idiot would even take a job as secretary to Palpatine before remembering the job he had been employed in for the first few weeks of his time in the suit. The room was currently silent as the grave, except for Vader's breathing. It seemed to annoy the rest of the occupants of the room, and Vader was pretty sure Ventress was on the edge of taking a lightsaber to him. "So. Now what do we do?" 

Maul looked on the floor and spotted a piece of paper. "Look what I found!" he exclaimed and handed the sheet over to Dooku. "I think it's another memo."

Dooku groaned after he read it. "Worse: it's a checklist of what we're supposed to be talking about. How much more evil can a person get?"

Ventress was about to answer, but Vader wanted to keep the annoyance factor down and told her, "That was a rhetorical question. Therefore, don't answer it."

Ventress glared at Vader and turned back to Dooku. "So, what's the first thing on the list? Are we really supposed to be---" She shuddered. "---bonding? Or can we just talk about random things, Jedi we've murdered, the general state of the universe?"

Dooku read the first line again, but this time out loud. "It says, 'Describe a normal day and comment/laugh at whatever each person says.' I should point out that we are supposed give the constructive comments to each other and not laugh at each other. That was for the soldiers, should they have participated in this form of torture. Oh, and we are going to have to do this in reverse alphabetical order, according to the sheet."

Ventress glared at the floor. "I'm supposed to go first? Great. So I'm supposed to describe a normal day? Fine. This day is normal enough, so I'll describe this one. I woke up a couple of hours ago when the air-raid siren went off like it usually does when anyone comes near here, including our own craft. We need to get that fixed. After that, I walked around my quarters for a few minutes before finding the stupid 'Memo of the Day' and ripping it into pieces after reading it. I realized soon after that if I didn't follow the stupid orders, Palpatine would be pissed, so I taped it back together and went about my work. The interrogation today was fruitless, as usual, and this is stupid, like I thought it would be. If everything follows the general norm, then assigning the Hands to their missions will be doubly dull like the strategy meeting we have after that. After our dinner of half-rotting rations, I'll probably go back to my quarters and fall asleep immediately." She turned to Vader. "If I'm not mistaken, it happens to be your turn now."

Vader stared back at Ventress. "We're supposed to comment. And I agree with the idiocy of the memos---and this little get together." Maul and Dooku nodded in agreement. "I feel that's enough commenting. Time for my turn." Vader paused a moment and decided to use the Battle of Hoth as his example day. "When the rest of whatever ship I happen to be on starts functioning, I'm generally on the bridge staring out of the viewports, waiting for someone to mess up or discover something. Sometimes, the crewmen are intelligent and find the location of the Rebel base, but that sometimes generally coincides with one of the officers acting like an idiot. On that same day, say that we mounted an assault on the Rebel base. The officer that was acting like an idiot before completely ruins our element of surprise, so I kill him and promote the captain of the ship. The captain was a lot more interesting, anyhow. So, as the battle is starting to wind down and the Rebels are retreating, I decide to take a little tour of the Rebel base. Solo and Organa almost run into me multiple times, but they manage to escape in Solo's scrap heap of a ship. Luckily, Solo and his Wookie managed to mess up the hyperdrive so they couldn't escape. They, instead, went through an asteroid field. I, of course, had to follow them. A captain of a normal Star Destroyer manages to lose them and comes to apologize to me. I accept his apology but kill him anyway. At that point, I realize that the one that I was looking for was not on the ship, but somewhere else. Palpatine talks to me about said person, and I formulate a plan to capture not only one of the most annoying leaders of the Alliance but one of the last Jedi."

"Wow. We really get rid of all of the Jedi?" Maul asked. "That's completely awesome! Wait, is the Organa you were talking about Princess Leia? And who's Solo?"

Vader sighed. Maybe he shouldn't have talked about Hoth. "Yes, Princess Leia Organa. She's rather annoying in most circumstances. Solo is her smuggler friend. He's the one that vaped my TIE fighter escorts in the Battle of Yavin."

"You have little patience," Ventress decided, grinning maliciously. "So little, in fact, that I am reminded of a certain Jedi Knight. You probably have never fought him, but---"

"I defeated Anakin Skywalker with ease," Vader cut her off. "He was erased like the rest of the Jedi that I massacred at the Temple. Ghosts, however, are another matter."

"I wonder if Kenobi was furious at you for murdering Skywalker?" Dooku essayed.

Unwelcome memories came flooding back, and Vader glared at him, not that Dooku could see him glaring. "Of course he was. How do you think I ended up in this suit?"

"I thought it was a fashion statement," Maul commented. "Like how all super heroes wear colorful tights, all Sith have to wear funky black outfits. Take Dooku's for example."

Dooku glared at Maul for that comment. "He defeated you that badly?" Dooku asked Vader. "What did he do that could have possibly forced you to wear that?"

"It was Palpatine's idea, I'll have you know," Vader replied. "I fought Kenobi here, on Mustafar. He cut off my left arm and both of my legs, then left me to die in the lava alone."

"Ouch. That has got to have hurt," Maul said. "All Kenobi did to me was impale me. He must have been really, really angry at you to have done something like that. What did you do to Skywalker that would have merited his reaction?"

"I twisted his soul and created a monster who didn't deserve to live," Vader replied. _From a certain point of view, of course._ "Skywalker was still alive during the attack on the Jedi Temple and partially on Mustafar. He died there, never to come back to life."

There was a moment where no one said anything before Maul started talking. "It's my turn now, right?" No one responded, so Maul supposed that it was. "I don't really have any normal days. It's basically, wake up, eat, be evil, eat some more, be evil again, eat for a third time, and go to sleep. I don't really have a dark, shady past. You all fell to the Dark Side; I was raised in it. Palpatine was really evil, but that's really about it."

"How entertaining," Dooku murmured sarcastically. "My day is about the same as a combination of the rest of yours, excluding the sarcasm, angst, and general stupidity."

"I thought you were friends with Tarkin at one point?" Vader suggested. "I would call that general stupidity." He looked at the clock which was obviously not showing the correct time. "Look at the time, we're almost late for assigning the Emperor's Hands meaningless tasks. It's about time for us to leave this, right?" Vader said, trying to get the point across.

Ventress looked at Vader like he was insane, then caught on to the scheme. "Right," Ventress added woodenly. "It is time for us to go. We do not want to be late."

Dooku realized what they were doing. "Yes, of course. I am sure the Emperor would be most displeased if we were not to assign the assassins their highly important jobs."

Maul was still a little confused. "I don't get it. What's going on? I thought we had another hour or so of this still to do. Is my wrist-chrono wrong?"

Vader was starting to be very annoyed by the Sith and was on the verge of wishing that Maul had just stayed dead. "I think it might be. We wouldn't want to miss any more of this Sith to Sith bonding sh---stuff, but it's just time to go. You understand, right?"

Maul finally understood. "Oh. It's 'time to go.' Got it. You guys wouldn't mind if I went past the snack machine on the way to the room where the Emperor's Hands are waiting."

Vader stared at him. "Do I look like I care? Seriously, Maul. We are rather indifferent."

Maul walked out of the room, following the other Sith. "Neat. I think I'm going get the Flavor Twists and a Pepsi today instead of the normal Twix and Snickers bars."

* * *

Mara was less than amused at the current situation. She was stuck being the Emperor's Hand in this reality as well. As if it hadn't been bad enough in the other one! Was she never going to be left alone by the evil idiots? She sighed and just tried to ignore the other Hands. If anything, they were more annoying than the Dark Lords, excluding Vader. He was just depressing. No one was annoying around him, so that was why Mara had decided to stalk him for the past week or so. He probably thought that she was on assignment from Palpatine to do that, but no, it was just for the sake of Mara's mental health. 

The Sith came into the room about an hour early, but no one really cared. The sooner they got this over with, the better. A bonus was that they might actually get some free time to themselves. Mara was amused by the fact that the one who was all tattooed, Maul, was snacking on some of the food from the vending machine. Ventress, the creepy woman from the Clone Wars, seemed somewhat annoyed by the fact, and Dooku was just choosing to ignore his predecessor. Vader seemed to have no emotion, yet again. They started handing out mission assignments to the other hands with a sort of monotony and boredom Mara had only expected out of computer help hotline people.

After about twenty minutes, Mara was the only one still left in the room. She stood up and stretched then demanded, "So what am I supposed to be doing?"

Vader looked at the sheet with all of the assignments on it. "You're supposed to either reward or kill the being that killed Grand Moff Tarkin. If the being is a Rebel, which we all know to be true, you are supposed to execute him or her. If said being is a Rebel and human or acceptably humanoid but would be willing to join the Empire, let said being join and give said being a medal. If said being is part of the Empire, give them a medal."

Mara stared at Vader. "Are you serious? You know that the guy who destroyed the Death Star wouldn't join the Empire for ruling the Empire. And you say I have to kill him?"

Vader seemed to be taken aback by the comment. Mara guessed that he was thinking about how Mara could have known the particular secret that she was sure he would be willing to take to the grave with him than tell the other Dark Lords. Finally, Vader answered her question. "Yes, then you are supposed to kill him, but I would like you to know that these are not my orders. Am I correct in guessing that you know what sort of an asset the pilot would be to the Empire, should he be turned to the Dark Side?"

Mara felt like laughing. Vader was trying to avoid being direct with his questions to a point where she felt like just telling him that yes, she knew who he was and what Luke meant to him, but Mara couldn't well say that in the presence of two more Dark Lords and Ventress. With a completely straight face, Mara replied. "Yes, Lord Vader. I understand." Time to mess with him. "Maybe we should tell Palpatine about this potential."

Vader had figured out that Mara was now trying to annoy him on purpose. "Maybe you should go through with the assassination, then, and try to take care of some of the Rebel leaders while you are at it. A Jedi Master or two would also be nice."

Mara restrained herself from glaring. "I would think that it would be best to try and capture the Rebel alive, then let Palpatine decide his fate. What do you think?"

If Mara had x-ray vision, she would have known that she was correct in thinking that Vader was glaring at her. "That is acceptable," Vader replied, angry at Mara's insolence.

"The pilot is Force-sensitive?" Ventress realized. "You can't possibly think that he's powerful enough to merit a discussion between any one of us and Palpatine."

"If I am correct in my thinking, he just might be," Dooku said. "Vader, is this pilot the man that you were going to capture Princess Organa and that Solo fellow to try and lure him to someplace where you could capture him and take him to the Emperor?"

Vader seemed to regret telling Dooku about that. "Yes, he is one and the same."

"So that was why you let Tarkin and the Death Star get blown up!" Maul exclaimed.

"No, that's just because Tarkin was annoying," Mara replied. "Seriously, a loss of that battle station, blight on the universe as it was, was well worth the elimination of Tarkin. And, as you can see from my new assignment, Palpatine was very happy with the results."

"Do you ever shut up?" Ventress hissed at Mara. "If it's not a sarcastic remark, it's a condescending comment to one of your superiors. I don't understand why Palpatine even bothers with you. You're probably just here to liven up the scenery."

Now it was Vader's turn to retrain himself from laughing. Mara shot a glare at him before turning the full force of the glare onto Ventress. "No, I'm here because I'm a good pilot, obsessive about ship maintenance, a deadly shot, and well versed in the art of sabotage. Oh, and I could probably take you down pretty---no, very easily."

Ventress glared at Mara before storming out of the room. Dooku walked out after her to try and attempt to calm her down a little bit, just enough so that Ventress wouldn't try to kill Mara the next time the two were in a room together. That left Maul, Vader, and Mara in the room. It was a rather tense atmosphere, only broken by Maul's munching sounds and Vader's breathing. After about a minute, Maul announced, "I'm going to lunch," and left.

"So... How's life?" Mara asked. Vader just stared at her. "Fine, be that way. I'm leaving." She was halfway to the door when she stopped. "Oh, two things: 1. Where are Luke and the others? 2. Do you want me to smuggle Senator Amidala off planet?"

Vader stared at Mara and decided he was never going to understand that girl in any reality before answering, "Hoth, and yes, take her as far away as possible."

"It'll be my pleasure," Mara replied, grinned, and ran off to follow the orders.

* * *

"Hoth, the frozen planet believed to be the original location of the lowest level of hell, Corellian or Sith. It has the largest sheet of solid ice on it in the entire galaxy, to the knowledge of most in this sad, sad colony. Although it is like living in a meat freezer, there are some fringe benefits to the occupation of this patch of ice we live underneath: there is wonderful packing snow galore. So, to you, traveler, welcome to your worst nightmare." 

Mara groaned. "Spare me the theatrics, Janson. I'm only looking for a clearance to land and drop off one of you leaders who, if you didn't know, has been a captive of the Empire for the past two months. I mean the Rebellion no harm. You on the other hand..."

"Uh..." Janson was probably checking the scanners and wondering if she was telling the truth. That, or he wasn't supposed to be answering calls from unidentified ships. "Well, Senator Or---uh, the Senator says you're cleared to land at---" Coordinates were listed. "---and, um, I'm supposed to ask who might you be? It's a security thing."

So the prankster didn't remember her. That means that there would probably be no run ins with anyone she actually knew. Mara sighed in relief and answered, "I'm a double agent. You don't need to know my name, only that I'm helping you and have not given my higher-ups the location of the base. If I had, you would be fleeing from an armada, not me."

"Er... Senator? Is that an acceptable reply, or should I press for more information?"

Organa was probably staring at Janson with his patience waning. "No. That it enough about her identity," Mara heard Organa say over the comm. "However... Pilot? Who exactly do you have with you? When you say one of the leaders, who do you mean?"

Mara smiled a bit. It was clear enough in his voice that Organa was hoping that she had brought Amidala back with her. "I mean your friend from that nice planet with the crazy amphibious creatures, one of which is considered annoying to certain Jedi Masters."

Organa obviously understood the meaning of her words; Mara could hear stifled laughter. "Thank you, then, pilot. It is very much appreciated that you are risking your superior's wrath to do this for us. I'm sure a certain Jedi Master will be happy as well."

Mara grinned. "I'm glad to hear that, Senator. I would have had the Senator on my end speak to you, but she has been pacing around the ship for the past few hours, so I locked her out of the cockpit." Her grin faltered. "Unfortunately, I also bring some bad news. My main mission here is to capture or kill a certain member of the Alliance. I do not want to do that. It---my reasons for it are complicated." _Sorta._ "Regardless, I would appreciate it if I could speak to ...Major Solo about it. I will report that my mission was unsuccessful, but I do not want to speak to the person I was supposed to capture. Is this unacceptable?"

There was a pause on the other end. Mara supposed that Organa was a little confused by the request. Janson, on the other hand, had been strangely silent. When the reply came, and Mara guessed that Organa had left the comm to Janson so he could meet Amidala in person and, hopefully, search for Solo. "Uh, the Senator just sorta went off just now. He said that what you said was acceptable. Can I ask you a question?"

Mara was suspicious now. Did he finally recognize her? "What's the question?"

"Have you at any time seen a girl about seventeen, eighteen-ish while you've been with the Imperials? It's just that a friend of some of ours went missing a while back, and..."

"Pardon?" Mara was stunned. They actually cared? "That's sort of vague," Mara continued, as steadily as she could make her voice. "I mean, anything else?"

Janson realized that he was being a little vague. "Well, she's about five foot seven, I think. Fire-red hair, deep green eyes. Sarcastic as hell, short tempered?"

"Yes, I've seen her. She isn't too happy to be working for the Empire," Mara told him. It was all essentially true. She had seen herself, and she wasn't happy working for the Empire. "In fact, she angered a Dark Jedi and a Dark Lord of the Sith a few days ago."

"What!" Janson exclaimed. "Are you serious? What happened?"

"She insulted Ventress and annoyed a certain Dark Lord to no end, something I must say she is starting to perfect," Mara replied as she started to actually land the ship in the hangar of the Rebel base. "Oh, and if you would like to know, Darth Maul is a fan of Pepsi." With that, she cut the transmission and opened the door to the cockpit. Amidala was staring at her, with a skeptical look. "He has snacking issues," she explained.

"Maul was the one with the black and red tattoos, correct?" Amidala asked. "He was the one that killed Qui-Gon Jinn during the Trade Federation Blockade of Naboo?"

Mara nodded as she opened the hatch to the outside and lowered the ramp. "Yes. He has the strangest things to say, though. Sometimes I think he's part of the Mafia."

Amidala grinned and shook her head. "That would not surprise me in the least."

"I take it he tried his thespian skills out on you when he and probably Dooku were sent to you apartment to threaten you into saying nothing about Palpatine?" Mara guessed.

Amidala nodded. "Miss, I thank you for bringing me here. I don't know if I could have survived all that much longer. If one of the other Sith had decided to interrogate me..."

"Vader wouldn't have let them, Senator," Mara replied. "He's already lost you once. He wouldn't have let anyone take you away again. That, and I have the feeling that he's actually jealous of himself, which I know sounds weird, but he doesn't want his other self to go through the loss that he had suffered." Seeing Amidala's expression, Mara realized that Amidala had already figured out whom Vader's identity was. "But you know that."

"He's never been good with loss," Amidala agreed. "Regardless, thank you for taking me out of that hell hole. Or, was that really part of your mission?"

"Number two ordered me to do it, so voila, here you are," Mara answered and gestured to the surrounding, freezing area. "...I guess Janson wasn't kidding," she commented as Organa came over to meet them. A unkempt-looking Corellian was following the esteemed Senator. Mara could only guess that he was Solo.

"Bail! I thought that I'd never see you again!" Amidala announced, ignoring Solo.

"We thought you had been executed," Bail told her. "Once the others started disappearing in the Senate... well, we had feared the worst. The Jedi are finally going to ignore the Empire's plans for them and join the Rebellion, though."

A smile lit up Amidala's face. "That's wonderful! When did this happen? I'm sorry I'm not all that up to date on politics, but I haven't heard much of the news since I was captured."  
"They sent us a report today by way of Jedi Master Adi Gallia," Organa replied. Mara hoped that her teacher had left before she had come. "Master Gallia has not yet left, though, so you would still be able to get information about the current state of the galaxy from her. I have to admit we are a little behind on the news as well."

Amidala and Organa continued to talk, and Mara went over to talk to Solo. "You're Major Solo, correct?" she asked. "I have a small request for you."

Solo gave one of his best lopsided grins. "Yeah? And what might that be? Senator Organa was a little sketchy about what he wanted me here for. Wes didn't help, either."

Mara sighed. "Janson... He's a pain, sometimes. Anyway, I need you to tell Skywalker that the Empire's after him, all right? I was sent here to kill him---"

"No surprise there," Solo commented. "He did destroy the Death Star, after all."

She glared at Solo. "Don't interrupt. As I was saying, I was sent here to kill him or to take him back to the Imperial base. The Sith want to try and turn him to the Dark Side. When the Emperor finds out, they will be hell to pay, I assure you, but until then, he's almost safe."

Solo still had a grin plastered on his face. Mara was starting to believe that Solo knew who she was. It would make sense. Corran would have had to mentioned her at least once or twice. "And you didn't want to tell this to him yourself because...?"

Mara was starting to get irritated by Solo. The fact that she was blushing didn't help, either. "I have my reasons, Solo. Don't push it. I am one of the Emperor's hand-picked assassins, in case you didn't know. I deal in death, so don't make me add you to the dead."

"Touchy, aren't we?" Solo replied. "All right. I'll tell Kid. It isn't really anything new, besides the Sith wanting to add him to their ranks. I personally think that's a little weird."

"They work in strange and mysterious ways. Demented ones, too," Mara explained. "Regardless... I must admit that I owe you one for doing this for me. Just don't say that it---"

"Was you? Never. I don't want another assassin breathing down my neck." Solo started to walk off, but he turned around about halfway and waved. "See you later, Jade."

Mara smiled a little and nodded before boarding the ship she was using so she could go somewhere else to try and throw off the true location of the Rebel base from the people she was supposed to be serving. She could wait for her chance to strike back at the Empire, but for now she would play the obedient servant. While she received clearance to leave the planet, Mara decided that if Vader could wait to get his vengeance on Palpatine for as long as he did, she could certainly wait a few months or years. _After all, as the saying goes_, she thought cooly, _Revenge is a dish best served cold..._

* * *

_Yeah, I couldn't help not saying that... So... Thanks to all the people who've either favorited this story or decided to watch it. 'Tis very appreciated. I would name names, but it's just gotten too hard to keep track of with people unfavoriting it and then someone else favoriting it again. Plus, I don't think it's changed in the past two chapters, so this does just as well. Anyway... Reviews!_

_**SuperBlond**: Yes, but Jell-O is one of the awesomes. Unfortunately, the medicine is prescription only. With good reason, as you could probably tell. Vader's going to have even more problems with everything, and Anakin hasn't even seen his other self in person yet... Those poor guys... Oh, and Anakin had more screen time! Yaye! But Luke and the Rogues didn't have as much... Doesn't matter. They'll be back with a vengeance next chapter. I didn't get to include my Rebels section of this chapter because it would seem odd if I only had that part. It's a better ending at the moment. Thanks for reviewing!_

_**JadeAlmasy**: Yes. I can't believe I wrote the chapter that funny, either. Must have been the medication... Thanks for reviewing!_

_**Niraha Skywalker**: Vader and Anakin rock. I'm glad you liked the part with Sola in it. I was sort of worried that I hadn't done her justice, but i apparently had nothing to worry about. Thanks for reviewing!_

_**Jas-TheMaddTexan**: Thanks! Oh, and about the Rebellion vs. Revolution thing, I actually thought about this, and I concluded that they called themselves the Rebellion because they hadn't actually won the war yet, so they couldn't call themselves a revolution since nothing had been changed. That's my take on it, at least. Thank very much for reviewing!_


	9. Yoda's Cooking and Strange Things Afoot

_Hello. First off: I am terribly sorry about the very long wait for this chapter. My reasons happen to be the following: school started, and this chapter is about 33 pages single spaced. Therefore, I suggest that it be read in maybe more than one sitting if you're in a time crunch. This is most of ESB, excluding the very end of the movie, but I ended up using some of the real dialogue because some of it's, well, too good not to mention (ex. Han telling that one dude "Then I'll see you in hell!" and certain others). I wasn't sure how people would react to that, so I just wanted to warn people of that in advance. I changed as much as I thought possible with the scenes which happened similarly in my story and the movie. Lots of Rebellion stuff happening this chapter, and I'll be back with the Empire next chapter with Shadows (hopefully I'll try to get that chapter out sooner than later). Oh, and a final warning: there is way too much from Luke's POV in this chapter (hence the planned binge with the Imps). Anyway, thanks to all reviewers, watchers, people who have this on their favorites lists, and, of course, all the readers. I really appreciate it all, and I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter.  
_

* * *

Leia hated Hoth. Absolutely hated it. The planet hadn't been better staying there the second, and more permanent, time around. It had been about three months since they had set up base, but she still hated it. Most of the Rebellion hated it too. It was hard not to hate Hoth. If her father was there, he would have hated it, too. Given his record with desert planets, it would be strange if he didn't. After all, Hoth was just a frozen desert with lots of ice. Her mother would probably just learn to live with the planet, but Leia, if anything, had inherited her father's dislike of extreme environments. 

She had been doing reconnaissance work on a dare from the Rogues (_Damn them!_), and was now heading back to base. There had been some important conversation over the comm, and something big was happening back at base, according to Janson's descriptions of the events of the day. Janson had been very vague, which was no surprise, but Leia had a strange feeling about who had come on planet. Maybe it was a small inkling of the Force? Leia smiled to herself. If that was it, then it was probably one of her parents. Leia's eyes widened as she realized that if it was one of her parents, then she couldn't stop hiding her identity from her friends. She hated doing that in the first place, but there was no doubt that she would get some sort of adverse reaction from at least one of them.

While riding her tauntaun through the hangar, a ship took off and left. Leia could feel a somewhat familiar presence on board, but she couldn't place it. Maybe if she had listened to her father more about using the Force, then she would have been able to identify the person. Speeding through the hangar and dodging people that got in the way of the tauntaun, Leia got to the area where the ship had come from in record time. She dismounted in one swift movement and surveyed the area. Han was standing there, leaning against the wall, and near him were Bail and her mother. _This is a disaster! _Leia thought, but she continued to walk towards the two diplomats.

When she arrived, Leia put on as big of a smile as she could. She imagined it made her seem quite funny looking since she had borrowed Han's coat to go do the recon. It was way too large for her, and the fur rim around the hood must have looked ridiculous. "Hello Senators," she said. "I'm glad to see that you are all right, Senator Amidala." Leia hoped that her mother would get the message that she hadn't told her friends about her parents.

Padmé smiled back at her daughter. "I'm glad to see that you're all right, Leia. Your father has been worried sick, I'll have you know. He constantly was annoying your mother about his deranged fantasy situations that you had gotten yourself into."

Leia breathed a sigh of relief. "I wish I could apologize to her and tell her that if I could have avoided what I had planned to do, I would have, but it just seemed to have been fate that I linked my fate with that of the Alliance. I also feel badly for abandoning my post in the Senate," she admitted. "I know I did the right thing, but I still have the feeling that I did not."

Bail decided to leave and let them talk alone, but Han took that as a cue to start walking over. Leia wanted him to shove off and go pester the Rogues, but she knew that he was going to do no such thing. He probably even knew that Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo was her mother. Hopefully he hadn't connected the fact that that would make Anakin Skywalker her father. Solo put on his cocky grin. Leia knew something bad was going to happen. "Hey, Your Highness, the Rogues have some news for you: Janson accidentally defrosted your quarters again. Have fun with your clothe-sicles."

Leia glared at Solo as he walked away. "That man is infuriating!" she exclaimed, all diplomacy discarded. "If it's not one thing, it's another!" She groaned. "Sometimes I wonder if he goes out of his way to trample all over my nerves!" Han had passed out of sight, but Leia was still glaring at the spot he had occupied before rounding the corner.

Padmé chuckled. "So that was Captain Solo? Sola was very enlightening about your little trip to Naboo a while back. She said that there might possibly have been someone in particular that you liked, but I didn't think that he'd be so handsome."

Leia had a look of absolute horror on her face. "Aunt Sola swore she wouldn't say anything to you or Dad! And I don't like Han Solo!" she shouted. After a few seconds of calm breathing, Leia realized that she had make quite the scene, but most of the Rebels had shrugged it off as yet another spat between her and Han, despite the topic. "Sorry, Mom," Leia said quietly and apologetically. "I just... You haven't told Dad, have you?"

Padmé shook her head. "Of course not. You know how well he would be taking that particular conversation. I know that certain topics that even stray close to that would be just cause for him to simply overload and shut down. There was this one time that he fainted; it was hysterical." She smiled. "So, how have you been? Made many friends?"

Leia nodded. "Yes. I have. Many more that I thought I would, too. Most, if not all, are completely insane though. Luke is one of the exceptions. He's a lot more solemn than the rest, but that doesn't mean he can't act as crazy as them, either. Luke reminds me a lot of Dad, to tell you the truth, but without the explosive temper Dad's known for."

Padmé's happy expression faltered for a moment. Leia thought that she looked a little sad, but it quickly passed as if Padmé hadn't changed expressions at all. "I see. What about the rest of your friends? I've heard that Corran and his friend Kyle were here, too."

Leia nodded. "Yeah. Corran's sarcasm is infectious sometimes, but Kyle's part of the commandoes, so I don't see him as often. I generally hang out with Rogue Squadron. Both Luke and Corran are part of it. Some of the others I know very well are Tycho, Hobbie, Wedge, and Wes. Tycho's the squad's voice of reason, Hobbie's the resident disaster prone pilot of the squad, Wedge is second-in-command of the squad, and Wes is the squad's prankster. Luke actually is the leader of the squadron, and I guess you probably already know, Mom, but he destroyed the Death Star." Leia paused. "Um, and then there's Han. He's the captain of the _Millennium Falcon_, and a really good friend of mine and Luke's. He's the one that I hired to take Luke and I to Yavin 4 in the first place."

"It sounds like you feel more conformable here than you ever did on Coruscant," Padmécommented. "Back on there, your father and I had to try so hard to get you to try and make friends, but here, you made at least five almost immediately from the sound of things." Padmé sighed. "Unfortunately, Leia, I should be getting to the meeting with Bail and the others. I do need to meet all of the military leaders. I will talk to you later, all right?"

"Okay, Mom. I'll see you later!" Leia replied. As they started to part, Leia suddenly remembered that she needed to tell her mother about how she hadn't exactly told anyone who she was, so she ran back over to Padmé. "Mom, I forgot to tell you... I haven't told Luke or any of the other guys that I'm, well, you know, related to you or Dad."

"And you don't want me telling them, either?" Padmé finished. "Don't worry, Leia. I won't spill the beans. They wouldn't think any less of you, you know. From the sound of them, I doubt their perception of you would change at all. It would be a good idea to tell them eventually, though, but it's okay to take your time." Padmé smiled. "Now go off. I don't want to keep you from your friends, and it sounds like you need to defrost your clothes."

Leia remembered Han's announcement to her and nodded. "I'll see you later, Mom." Padmé nodded, and Leia rushed off in the direction that Han had disappeared in. She didn't need to travel far; the room that the Rogues frequented most was near that hangar: the mess hall. The twelve pilots that made up the infamous squadron were sitting at a table near the exit to the hangar, and apparently Solo had decided to grace them with his presence. Chewie had come along, too. He was currently conversing with Inyri Forge and Dack about malfunctions with hyperdrives on freighters. How they had managed to get him on that topic, Leia wasn't sure she wanted to know. She actually had a bad feeling about a certain freighter having a hyperdrive malfunction in the future, though.

Leia walked over and sat down at the table next to Luke. He smiled at her. "So, what was going on just now? Han was saying that some Imperial assassin came. Do you know anything about it or did you just get back from the recon thing?" Luke asked.

Leia grinned. "Nothing much. I came back just as the Imperial left. However, she had freed Senator Amidala and brought her back here to the base. I don't know why." Leia paused. "Actually, Han was there, too. Seemed to have been there the entire time. Why don't we ask him what happened?" She smirked and looked at Han.

Han rolled his eyes. "Fine. Look, the girl brought the Senator back for some reason or another; she didn't tell me about that. All she did was tell me about why she was supposed to be here and to warn the person she was supposed to have killed/abducted."

Corran's eyes widened. "Wait a second. Did she give her name at all? 'Cause---"

Han shook his head. "No, Corran, she didn't. She actually told me to not tell anyone she was ever here, but I think that was because she thought I recognized her." He shrugged. "Anyway, Your Highnessness, how's the Senator? Not too rattled, is she?"

"Wait... Are we talking about Senator Padmé Amidala?" Corran asked, and Leia realized that at least one of her friends knew that her mother was married to her father. "As in the Senator from Naboo who's married to the guy that taught me, Anakin Skywalker?"

Leia, giving up but not letting it show, nodded. "One and the same. She's been part of the Alliance for a while now. It's been about a year, year and a half now."

"And this is the benefit of having a friend in the High Command: they tell you stuff," Wes declared. "Of course, the rest of the time, it's a pain since you always try to keep us from breaking the rules. Unsuccessfully, I might add."

"There's always a good reason for it, Wes," Tycho pointed out. "Like how while it was fun to have that camp fire, not only did it attract wild animals, but it melted some of the ice in the ceiling of the hangar. Didn't we get mess hall duty for a week for that?"

"Three weeks," Wedge corrected. "And today's the first day, if you remember."

"You guys did that weeks ago!" Han exclaimed. "Why was it scheduled for today?"

Luke stifled a laugh, and Leia answered in a deadpan, "Because you and Yellow Squadron were supposed to have been on mess hall duty until today."

"Well I'm sorry, Your Worshipfulness, but it just doesn't seem to matter," Han shot back. "We eat rations, and the floor is ice, so why clean up at all? Whatever isn't eaten just freezes to the floor. Then you have to take an ice pick or jackhammer to the floor."

"It's simply too much work," Wes agreed. "And then you have a pothole in the floor."

"And potholes are dangerous," Hobbie added. "You could trip in one, you could trip over one, you could trip into one... The list goes on. If we wanted to fill the pothole, though, we could add water to it, but it would have to be a little bit at a time and ice cold water. The water would require that we heat up some ice, but wouldn't you rather drink hot drinks than have it used as pothole filler? I wouldn't trade coffee for _that_! And it's a waste of heat!"

"Point taken," Leia grumbled. "Rogue Squadron: three hundred something, Leia: zero. Can't you ever not argue yourselves out of a punishment?"

"It's sorta hard with Jedi Masters," Corran admitted. "They know when you're lying."

"That reminds me of that one time when we were pulled over," Tycho commented. "Mr. Skywalker didn't look too happy when he had to bail us out of the whole mess."

Corran shrugged. "He wasn't that angry once we told him that there was something wrong with the speeder." He winced in remembrance of the next part. "Of course, once I mentioned it was his speeder, he got a little mad. I wasn't allowed to read fiction for a week."

"A week?" Han said disbelievingly. "You crash a speeder and you get punished by not being allowed to _read_ for a _week_? I know I've asked this before, but how the heck does that guy teach discipline? Seriously! You weren't even grounded?"

"No, _Corran_ wasn't," Luke complained. "_I_ was. Why? I was driving. It didn't matter that he and Wes were distracting me. But I do have to admit that the whole thing blew over eventually when Master Skywalker got a ticket for the exact same thing a week later."

"Isn't that called poetic justice?" Wes wondered. "It's either that or karma."

Leia laughed. "No, it's called chronic bad driving. He drives like a lunatic. Trust me." She paused. "Actually, don't trust me, ask Senator Amidala. She can testify to that, too."

"Remind me not of his driving," Corran implored, looking a little green. "It brings back bad memories of missions where he flew ships like a mynock out of hell. And there was this one time when the freaking inertial dampeners broke!"

"It was only out for two minutes, Corran," Luke reminded him. "Master Skywalker got it fixed really quickly. You and Master Obi-Wan were clinging to your seats for dear life."

"Yeah, well that's because you were the one that was flying the ship when Anakin went back to fix it!" Corran exclaimed. "Of course we would have been a little scared!"

"Then why the hell are you a fighter pilot?" Han wondered. "I mean, if you hate flying that much, then why not be part of the ground forces or something like that?"

"I'm fine with it when I'm the pilot," Corran replied cooly. "Because, then I'm not trying to do a slingshot maneuver around a blue giant, and I care if something malfunctions."

"How the heck did we get onto this topic?" Wedge asked. "It's starting to get repetitive. Weren't we talking about Senator Amidala and that Imperial assassin?"

"Yeah, we were," Luke said. "Hey, Han. Who was the assassin supposed to kill?"

Han took a drink from the Corellian ale he had smuggled into the mess hall before answering. Quite frankly, from Han's point of view, he needed it to answer. "Simple. You."

"What!" Leia blurted out. "She was supposed to kill Luke? Why? Well, besides the fact that he destroyed the Death Star," she amended. "The Imperials don't know who did that, so how could they have sent an assassin to kill him?"

Han shrugged. "I don't think the Imperials do know. Maybe some of them do, but from the way the girl was acting, she was under orders from someone who knew what is actually going on. After all, Janson, didn't you say that she didn't tell the other Imps?"

Wes thought back. "Yeah. She said she hadn't told any of her superiors about the location of the base. It didn't strike me as strange then, but it does now. How would she have known about the location in the first place unless one of her superiors told her?"

"Then let's just hope they hate their superiors enough not to tell about this place," Han replied. "I'm not exactly ecstatic about the impending battle between us and them for Hoth. I don't particularly feel like possibly dying to defend this ball of ice."

* * *

Han couldn't believe his luck. Not only had the High Command decided to dole out new punishments to the Rogues for the bonfire incident, but Han had been reassigned to scouting duty as well. It wasn't the cold that really bothered him. No, the cold was somewhat bearable once you got over the fact that it wasn't really all that much warmer inside the base. What really bothered him was how badly the tauntauns smelled. Somehow, the cold made the stink even worse. Fortunately, his shift was practically over. He switched on his comlink. "Echo Three, this is Echo Seven. Hey, Luke? I've set the markers and am heading back to base. You coming, or are there actually life readings on this rock?" 

Over the comlink, Han could hear Luke laugh. "No. I'll be back a while after you. I'm going to go check out a meteorite that hit around here. It's not going to take long."

"Okay, Kid," Han replied. "If you want to stay out in the cold, it's your choice, but just in case there's an accident, what're your current coordinates? 'Cause there's no way in hell, frozen or burning, that I'm going to chance the wrath of Leia if you get lost."

"Right, Han. We've done this a million times. What's the chance that something bad would happen?" Luke asked. Han decided not to answer the question, and Luke gave his coordinates after a few seconds. "I'll be back about fifteen minutes, tops, after you."

"Okay, Kid. See you then," Han said, ending the conversation, and started to head back to base. Soon he would be free of the tauntaun for the week, maybe even the rest of the time the Rebellion would be staying on Hoth. The speeders were being defrosted! Han guided his tauntaun into the base and slowed it down to a stop outside of the _Falcon_. Chewie was working on the ship again. It was good that he was, too. Some bad dealings were going down on Nar Shaddaa between his old smuggler friends and the Imperials. Han felt like he at least owed it to them to warn them about how they would get double crossed by the Imps. He'd been one of the first to hear the horror stories; most of the stories had been told to him by the swindled freighter pilots themselves. "Hey, Chewie, I'll be right back to help you work on---What is that?---Don't tell me that there are some problems with the hyperdrive again. Anyway, I'll be right back. I'm, going to report in."

Chewie growled an amused reply that no, there wasn't anything wrong with the hyperdrive, and that he'd probably be working inside the _Falcon_ by the time Han returned.

Han grinned and walked off toward the command center. There were all sorts of charts and machines filling the room, but Han knew exactly the shortest distance to travel to get to General Rieekan through the chaos. When he arrived at his destination, Han saluted the General and gave his report. "General, there aren't any life signs out there, as usual, but I managed to set up the remainder of the perimeter markers, so we should know if anything does live on this iceball should they choose to show themselves."

"Good. But where's Commander Skywalker? Weren't you working with him?" Rieekan inquired. "I was under the impression that he should have been back before you."

Han shrugged and responded, "He wanted to check out a meteorite that hit nearby. Luke said he'd be back in about fifteen minutes after I returned." Pausing, Han glanced at the radar screen the General had been studying. "But it seems as if all of the asteroid and meteors are going to make it pretty difficult to locate incoming ships."

Rieekan nodded. "Yes. It is." There was a moment of silence between the two. "When are you planning to leave for the Smuggler's Moon? The High Command needs to find a suitable replacement for you while you and Chewbacca take your leave. You're good in a fight, Solo. The Rebellion would loathe to lose you. How long will this mission take?"

"I'm not sure," Han replied, grimacing. "If my old friends believe me, then it might only take a day or two on-planet and in addition to travel time. If not... I'm not sure."

Rieekan nodded in understanding and turned back to his work, noting that Princess Leia was stomping toward Solo. Apparently Solo hadn't told her about the mission yet.

Han turned around and almost ran straight into Leia. He wondered vaguely whether she had heard the conversation or not. Judging by the look on her face, Han could only assume it was that or she had discovered her clothes had been turned into clothe-sicles again. Deciding it was the former, Han said, "I guess this is it, Your Highness."

Still glaring at him and choosing to ignore how the rest of the command center was avidly watching the whole situation, Leia replied indifferently, "That's right."

"Well, don't go all mushy on me," Han retorted and started to leave. "So long, Princess!" he called to her bitterly when he was at the door and stormed out into the hallway. It was pretty much deserted, so Han probably wasn't going to be running into anyone else he knew on the way back to the _Falcon_. Good. Less goodbyes meant less pain. He heard footfalls coming after him, and as Han turned around, Leia called out his name. Han sighed in exasperation. Apparently he was going to be held up. "Yes, Your Highnessness?"

"I thought you were staying!" Leia exclaimed with her voice laden with some emotion Han was having trouble identifying. Or trying not to identify.

"Yeah, well, remember Ord Mantell? That sort of changed my mind a bit."

"Have you told Luke about this?" Leia demanded, sounding quite furious with him now. She just had to push all Han's buttons, didn't she? Not that it didn't go the other way.

Han grimaced. "No. I haven't. That was what I was on my way to do," he lied. The last time Han had tried to leave, Luke had cornered him and talked him into staying. That was shortly before Leia had done the same thing. He didn't want either to do that again.

Leia decided to give one last ditch effort. "Han! We---the Rebellion still needs you."

Han stared at her, not believing what she was saying. "The Rebellion still needs me? Are you really all that selfless? What about _you_ and _your_ needs?"

Leia visibly bristled and turned away. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Oh, come off it, Princess," Han retorted. "You want me to stay because of the way you feel about me." Han almost regretted saying that. Almost.

Leia nodded. "Yes. Of course. You're a great help to us---_all_ of us. Not just me. As proven in many battles, you're a natural leader---"

Rolling his eyes, Han cut her off. "No. You know that's not what I'm talking about."

Leia registered what he said and blinked before her eyes widened in realization. "You don't think---Why you arrogant---You're imagining things, Solo!"

Han laughed at her. "You know I'm right. I think you were afraid I was going to leave without giving you a goodbye kiss," Han shot back at her. Now he was in for it.

Glaring at him yet again, Leia was shaking with anger. "I'd sooner kiss a Wookie!"

That was the comment that finally set Han off. "I could arrange that!" he yelled at her. "You could use a good kiss!" he finished before storming off into the hangar while Leia stomped off back in the direction of her quarters. Han didn't really care where she went.

It took a good while for Han to calm down. He had gone through a complete circuit of the outer circle of tunnels in Echo Base. After he had calmed, Han made his way back to the hangar. Upon reaching the _Falcon_, he found Chewie sitting on top of the _Falcon_, looking rather worried. Confused, Han asked, "Chewie? What's going on?"

Chewie shook his head and pointed to Corran and Kyle pacing around the hangar, then replied that Luke still had not returned from his scouting mission. No one had been able to raise him on the comm system. Even the Jedi were worrying. That was a bad sign.

"What do you mean, no one can raise him?" Han demanded, worried. "Luke would not just shut off his comlink. Is everyone sure he isn't back? He hasn't checked in?" The only response Han received was Chewie shaking his head mournfully. Han looked out the window and saw that the sky was colored in the dark pinks and purples of sunset instead of the bright blue of day, so he started to rush over to talk with the nearest deck officer when his comlink buzzed. Hoping it was Luke, he answered immediately. "Solo here."

"Han?" Leia replied, sounding very agitated. "Have you heard anything from Luke?"

Han paused for a moment. "Agitated" wasn't the correct word to use. "Terrified" was more like it. Past argument all forgotten, Han replied, "No, Princess. I just heard he was missing myself. I was just about to check in with one of the deck officers."

"Han..." Leia sounded on the verge of tears. "Mom was just talking to Adi, and Adi said she could barely sense Luke anymore. Han, it's getting dark and the temp's dropping."

Taking a deep breath, Han tried to calm Leia down. "Leia, it's all right. I know where Luke probably is. I made him give me his coordinates before I came back. Now don't worry. I'll go out and find him. Everything will be all right. Okay, Leia?"

Han heard muffled sobs on the other end of the comlink. "Find him quick, or I'll come out after you, Solo," Leia replied, voice still wavering. "I swear I will, dammit."

"I understand, Your Highness." Han grinned. "I'll be back before you know it." He heard a muffled response which was most likely affirmative, and Han went off to find the Deck Officer. It didn't take very long since he was shouting "Deck Officer" as loud as he could. The rather confused man came over. "Has Commander Skywalker reported in yet?"

"Uh, I haven't seen him. He might have forgotten to check in," the nervous Deck Officer replied. _He's making excuses_, Han thought. "Senator Amidala was just asking the officer in charge of the South Entrance, but she hadn't seen Commander Skywalker either."

"That's not like him," Han replied impatiently. "Are the speeders thawed out yet?"

The officer gulped, knowing Han wouldn't be particularly happy with he next part of his news. "No, sir. They're taking longer than we thought. They'll be ready in the morning."

"Then I'm taking a tauntaun out," Han informed the officer whom he was fed up with. "I know where Luke was last, so I'll be back before the shield doors have to be closed." Han went off to get a hold of a tauntaun. The deck officer was following him.

"Sir, the temperature's already falling rapidly. Your tauntaun probably wouldn't even make it past the first marker!" the officer exclaimed, trying to persuade Han from getting himself killed. Then they would be down not only a commander, but a major as well.

Having mounted a tauntaun while the officer was talking, Han shot back, "Then I'll see you in hell!" and he rode off to the coordinates he had forced out of Luke earlier in the day.

* * *

Luke knew he had been drifting in and out of consciousness for a while and therefore couldn't trust his sense of time. The only thing he had really noticed was that it was getting darker and colder, neither of which were good signs. Besides the looming threat of hypothermic shock, Luke knew that if he didn't get himself out of the current mess he was in, then he'd probably become a permanent fixture of the cave. That or food for the white snow creature which had beaten him up in the first place. 

Slowly, he began to realize that he was temporarily completely conscious. Luke began to survey his surroundings. Gravity seemed to be a little off, which meant that he was probably hanging from the ceiling. Luke looked towards his feet. He was definitely stuck to and hanging upside-down from the ceiling. Managing to pull himself up to his feet, Luke tried to free himself by tugging at the straps of his boots. He gave up a few seconds later, quite tired from just that action, and surveyed the room some more. He spotted the ice creature a good few meters away. It was chewing on the remains of the tauntaun he had been riding. Luke felt a little nauseous from what he thought was the scene, but it wasn't like he hadn't seen blood before. It took a few seconds to register that the reason was he was probably the next course. The temporary bought of nausea had one beneficial side effect: he saw his lightsaber lying a few feet away from him. Nothing the Force couldn't solve.

Unfortunately, the ice creature had seemed to notice that its prey had awakened and was trying to escape, so Luke doubled his efforts. It was strangely very hard to concentrate on the Force, so he wasn't able to retrieve his saber until the creature was about two meters away. Luke cut himself down from the ceiling and ran as fast as he could away from the creature. At the end of the cave, Luke realized that he was probably being followed, but the Force told him that the creature wasn't coming after him. Very relieved, Luke started to move down the slope of the foothill that the cave was on.

After about ten or twenty minutes of trudging through the snow in the general direction he thought the base was in, Luke collapsed from the cold. He was visibly shivering and couldn't stop the action; it was also getting harder and harder to breathe. The hypothermia couldn't be setting in quite yet, could it? Luke tried to keep himself from panicking. Trying to keep himself conscious sounded like a good plan. Wasn't it bad if you fell unconscious if you were about to freeze to death? He considered counting things, but decided that that would probably make him pass out sooner than later. Recounting the events which lead him to the spot he was currently occupying sounded like a brilliant idea.

Luke remembered that right after Han had cut the transmission when they had been doing their scouting work, the tauntaun Luke had been riding had suddenly went berserk about something, which had turned out to be the snow creature. Luke had tried to calm the snow lizard down to no avail when the snow creature had swiped one of its paws at his face, knocking him off of his only ride back. It faintly occurred to Luke that he could feel the frozen blood still caked on his face from the attack. Regardless of the present, Luke was pretty sure that he had still been semiconscious when the snow monster had attacked the defenseless tauntaun and broken the poor creature's neck. At that point, Luke decided that maybe thinking about death wasn't the best course of action for him to take.

Luke noted that a snowstorm had started up. That wasn't exactly a good sign; it would make it harder for anyone to find him, if anyone found him at all. Black was starting to creep in along the edges of Luke's vision. None of that was good in the least. _And I had always imagined myself getting killed in a battle... I guess I'll just have to settle for death by snowstorm,_ Luke thought. _Brilliant, now I'm being morbid. No, that's not morbidity, that's being realistic._ As he thought that, something registered far off in the distance. It looked like someone riding on a tauntaun. Shutting his eyes, Luke decided that he was hallucinating. "I wouldn't say that," Luke thought heard someone say to him. Luke opened his eyes and stared at the person who had spoken. Now Luke was really sure he was hallucinating. Most people, especially humans, were not transparent or blue in color.

The apparition chuckled. "No, you are not hallucinating on either count. That speck off in the distance is your friend coming to save you, so don't worry about that."

"Wh-who are you?" Luke managed to stammer out. It hurt to breathe, let alone talk.

The human-like person smiled. "Come now. I'm sure you have heard of me. Last time I listened in on a conversation between Obi-Wan and Mace, they were going on and on about how much more interesting the Council meetings would be if I were still alive."

"Wait---you couldn't be Qui-Gon Jinn, could you? But that would make you a---"

"A ghost, yes," Qui-Gon replied. "Well, I'm a ghost of sorts." He shrugged. "Regardless, the purpose of this highly entertaining and somewhat useful conversation is that I am supposed to be telling you to head over to the Dagobah system once the Rebel base on Hoth is destroyed. There you shall find Master Yoda and the other goofs known as the Jedi Council, my former padawan and his so-called 'idiot' former padawan included."

Luke was highly confused now. Why was a dead person speaking to him when he was about to die and telling him information which didn't seem all that useful? "Why?"

"There is no why," Qui-Gon replied cryptically. "At least, that's what Yoda said," he amended. "I have a second task for you, though. You need to make sure Darth Vader does not meet his end in this reality; he needs to return to his own and rectify his misjudgments. It is rather imperative. Besides, there used to be a scientific law that one person cannot be in two places at once. Vader and a certain Jedi are defying those laws, and they know it."

"What?" Luke asked. Now he was even more confused than ever. First his teacher's dead Master was here speaking to him, then Qui-Gon was going on about how Luke had to go to Dagobah, and now Qui-Gon was saying that a Sith and Jedi were breaking the laws of physics by merely existing? Would this day never end?

Qui-Gon finally realized he was confusing the young, half-frozen to death rebel commander. "I'll explain in a different way. Vader does not belong here, in this reality. He belongs in the reality that's one over. In that reality, I wouldn't be here talking to the other you on Hoth. Obi-Wan would be. He would have died on the Death Star helping to make sure you and your friends were able to escape to Yavin 4. In that reality, the other you would be twenty-one here, not seventeen like you. You wouldn't have known almost any of the Jedi: they would have all been dead. Vader belongs in that reality, albeit one year in the future after the event that corresponds to this one. He needs to return to that reality, otherwise a time-paradox would be created. The ones that changed the fate of this galaxy seventeen years ago are from that version of events, and if they were not living or in the correct place at the correct moment, then the events of our past would be nonexistent."

"Oh," Luke replied, now completely overwhelmed and confused, and passed out.

His duty to the other reality complete, Qui-Gon decided that Solo needed a push in the right direction. That darned smuggler was taking far too long. Qui-Gon leisurely floated over to Solo and planted the suggestion of going a few degrees to the left in his mind. Within a minute, Solo found Luke. Deciding that all would be well, Qui-Gon went back to pestering the Obi-Wan from the original reality with all the details of what was happening in the alternate one, right down to Vader's little episode with Padmé and the door.

Han dismounted his tauntaun and ran over to Luke. The kid sure had scared him this time. It was almost completely night, and Han couldn't really see how badly Luke was injured, but Han just knew that something was definitely wrong with him. If there wasn't, Luke wouldn't have a nice, thick covering of snow on him or be lying down, inert, in the middle of a snow field. "Oh, God. Come on, Luke, you can't be dead." Despite the cold, Han removed the glove from one of his hands and tried to find Luke's pulse. He sighed in relief when he found that Luke was still among the living. Han replaced his glove and thought about what to do next. Judging by the light, the shield doors would have already been closed, so it would be useless to try and return to base. It would be better to try and stay alive till morning.

Han heard Luke groan and saw that he had regained consciousness. "Han...? How... Why...? I thought you were going to Nar Shaddaa?" Luke murmured. "Why didn't you?"

"Look, Kid, we're going to stay around here for the night. There's no use trying to go back to the base," Han informed Luke while putting his glove back on, completely ignoring Luke's questions. "Stay tight, all right? I'll get the shelter up in a couple of minutes, okay?"

Luke managed to nod, and Han decided that Luke was in worse shape than he had originally thought. It looked like something had attacked him. The kid had been missing for how long out in this abominable weather? It was a miracle that Luke had survived this long.

Han turned around and got the pack off of the tauntaun. In it was an Alliance standard issue shelter and comlink, among other things. There was no use trying to raise the base on comlink with the snowstorm raging like it was, so Han set the box down next to Luke, and as he started to open it, the tauntaun died. Han was aware of the thump of the snow lizard hitting the ground, but didn't want to make completely sure that it had in fact died of cold and exhaustion. He checked anyway and groaned. "Great. Now we're really stuck out here," he mumbled to himself. A thought then struck Han. "Hey, Luke? You still awake?" Since he received no response besides labored breathing, Han took it as a no. If Luke was not conscious, then he probably wouldn't remember what Han had planned. Han found Luke's lightsaber and dragged the tauntaun over. He felt bad to be using the creature as a temporary heater, but it was that or risk the possibility of Luke still dying on him, so Han turned the sword on and cut the lizard open. "And I thought they smelled bad on the outside!" he exclaimed, trying not to retch from the smell. After shoving Luke close enough to it so he would be warmer, Han finally allowed himself to breathe again and started to set up the temporary shelter. Thank God the Alliance had bought the best equipment for that.

* * *

It was very dark now, and Leia's eyes were still glued to the icy expanse. She had rushed over to the hangar what seemed like days ago now when Han had told her that he was going to go out and look for Luke. Leia had wanted to catch Han before he left and had even entertained the thought of going out into the frozen wasteland with Han to help look for Luke. Unfortunately, Leia had arrived just as Han had rushed off, and she had furthermore also not moved from the spot she was in since then. 

In the time between, Rogue Squadron in its entirety had congregated near the _Falcon_ and the snow speeders to discuss a plan of action. They were currently trying to assign themselves to certain sectors of the surrounding area. It had been chaotic for most of the discussion, but Wedge had taken control after a while and was dictating orders. Leia decided to listen in. "Okay, Hobbie? You and I will take Sector One. Tycho, Wes, you guys are Sector Two. Dack, Inyri, Sector Three. Jesmin, Asyr, Sector Four. Corran, Ooryl, Sector Five. Zev, Sector Six." Wedge looked over to Kyle. "I think it would be better if you stayed back at the base and kept track of our progress."

Kyle nodded. "Probably," he agreed, but added, "I'm not a half bad pilot myself, yet I'm not part of you guy's squadron, so the higher ups would probably prefer it if I stayed behind rather than potentially wreck one of the speeders."

As they started to lay out the search plans on the maps they had acquired, Leia zoned them out again. She thought back to the conversation she had had with Han. Leia was almost positive that she had accidentally referred to her mother as her mother while talking to him and wondered if he had caught her slip. She thought back to Yavin and realized that she had made a slip there, too. Maybe Han already knew. But if he did, then why hadn't he talked to Leia about it?

Leia's gaze drifted over the R2-D2 and C-3PO. They were located near the doors, and she knew that Artoo was trying to search for Han and Luke on his sensors. Leia was almost positive that the little droid wasn't going to find any trace of either of them. She had an unexplainable feeling that her two friends were going to be fine, regardless of the odds that Artoo and Threepio were arguing about at the moment.

"Seven hundred and twenty-five to one, huh?" Padmé repeated. Leia hadn't noticed her mother come over. It seemed a little strange to Leia that Padmé seemed almost as upset as she was. "Well, I've heard worse odds," she added to lighten the atmosphere.

Leia nodded. "I have too, Mom. They've beat worse odds, and they'll beat these ones," she declared resolutely, not quite sure that she believed those words. "They'll come back alive. I just know it. Han will find Luke, and the Rogues will find them in the morning."

"The shield doors have to be shut soon," Padmé informed her daughter. "The second to last patrol just came back a few minutes ago." She stood in silence. "I don't want them to, personally, but Major Solo seems like the kind of person who wouldn't try to risk this weather to return to the base, especially if Luke is wounded."

Leia nodded and wondered why her mother had called Han by his rank and surname while calling Luke by his first name. Maybe it was because her mother somehow knew Luke was Obi-Wan's apprentice or because Luke was borrowing her last name. Leia was almost positive that her mother hadn't met Luke at all or Han properly as of yet, and her mother was acting like she had met both of them before. It made no sense at all.

A few minutes later, Leia was acutely aware of the approach of a lieutenant approaching Major Derlin. That only meant one thing. "Sir, all the scouts are in," Lieutenant Tehre reported. "There's still no sign---" The major shot him a look which meant quiet down so as to not upset Leia. They were only a couple of meters away. She was going to hear them, regardless. The lieutenant continued more quietly, "Still no sign of Skywalker or Solo."

"I take it the storm's getting worse and the temperature's still dropping?" Derlin queried. Tehre nodded. "The snow speeders have not completely thawed?" Tehre shook his head sadly. "Nothing more can be done tonight. The shield doors must be closed."

Tehre nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll go inform the crew." Leia watched him run off to the control room and told the occupants that it was time to shut the shield doors. The technicians immediately carried out the order, and Leia watched the doors creep towards one another to seal the inside of the base off from the outside world for the night. She almost felt detached from the entire situation, and the small inkling of hope she had was starting to turn into a full-blown assurance of the two's safety. If she was being delusional, Leia didn't want to face reality. Facing reality meant worrying. Not wanting to suffer anymore indecision, Leia walked back to her room to try and sleep and instead face what dark dreams would come.

* * *

Early the next morning when the shield doors were opened, Wedge assembled the Rogues for a quick briefing, just in case anyone had forgotten what they had discussed the night before. While he was talking, Wedge noticed a certain lithe, white-clad figure move stealthily towards the one snow speeder which was to be unoccupied. He finished the briefing and moved towards his snow speeder, making sure he was going to pass said figure. Lo and behold, Leia froze instantly when Wedge moved into her line of vision. She probably thought he'd tell her to go back. Wedge grinned. "Well, are you coming or not?" 

"You don't mind if I take the last speeder?" Leia asked, a little confused.

Wedge shook his head. "Of course not, Princess. You've got the training required to fly them, and Han and Luke are your friends, too. Besides, no one was going to use that snow speeder anyway. It's bad luck, and you know how superstitious we pilots are."

Leia blinked in confusion. "Wait, this is Luke's?" Wedge nodded. "Then I'd better make sure I don't crash. Wouldn't really do if I destroyed Rogue Leader's snow speeder."

"No. No it wouldn't," Wedge agreed. "You heard the planning last night, so I won't have to tell you again. Why don't we designate you Rogue Thirteen for the time being?"

"If it's absolutely necessary for the comm transmissions, then I'm fine with it."

"Good." Wedge smiled at her, and climbed into the cockpit of his snow speeder and turned it on. The Rogues exited the hangar in numerical order and started the search. Kyle was keeping track of everything from the command center. Senator Amidala had made sure that there was a niche reserved for him the night before. Wedge and Hobbie were searching Sector One and were finding nothing at all. "Rogue Two to Rogue Four, I'm not finding anything at all. No traces of anything. What about you?"

Hobbie's voice crackled back over the comm, "Er, Two? I, uh, am having some technical difficulties. The sensor readings show a faint trace of a metallic object in a place it shouldn't be. That's not the technical difficulty, though. Oh, and no trace of Luke or Han."

"Hobbie... What have you done this time?" Tycho, Rogue Five, demanded.

"Nothing to deserve this horrible reaction from my so-called friends!" Hobbie replied.

"Tych, stop being so hard on the guy," Wes retorted. "And Ersatz Leader and Commando Double-Oh-Eight, we, Five and Seven, have no trace whatsoever of either the major or commander. There's also something weird going on. Right, Tych?"

"Lead and Command, Five. Seven and I have found some sort of metal object. Seven had visual confirmation. I think it's an Imperial probe droid."

"A probe droid?" Kyle exclaimed. "That makes no sense! Why would they send a probe droid here of all places? It's as useful as sending one to Mustafar."

"DOE, Seven. I still happen to think that the Imps are stationed at Mufasa."

"Lead and Command, Nine here. Neither me nor Ten've found anything at all," Asyr reported. "What's all this talk about animated lions?"

"Ten, Nine. They're talking about Mustafar. It's a fiery planet with massive volcanic activity," Jesmin told her. "Janson happens to think that the Imperials have their base of operations set up there, and always says the name of the planet wrong."

"Twleve here. Uh, Commando and Leader? Neither me nor Ooryl have found anything," Corran reported. "I thought I sensed something, but it turned out to be this snow monster. Reminded me of something out of a Corellian legend."

"Twelve, Two. Please don't say you found the abominable snowman."

Wes scoffed. He was probably shaking his head. "Twelve! We were looking for two humans, if you don't remember, not a legendary snow monster. So... What was it like?"

"Wes..." Tycho said threateningly. "If you don't stop goofing off... I swear to God."

"This is Rogue Thirteen. I haven't found a trace of either Han or Luke," Leia reported despondently. "And Wes, I agree with Tycho. Shut up. We can go after that thing later."

"Thirteen? I wasn't aware that we had acquired another pilot in the midst of all this."

Wedge felt like banging his head against the transparisteel of the cockpit of his snow speeder. "Seven, Two. Use your head for a change. We're not using voice changers. And Rogue Squad? Head over to Sector Six. That is, if you're sure nothing's in your sector." Wes should have recognized Leia's voice. It made sense that she was out here.

As everyone started to regroup in the sixth sector, Wes decided to do some detective work. "Thirteen? Does your name start with the same letter as our normal, non-ersatz leader? Or am I gravely mistaken, meaning that Tycho will hit me later?"

"Seven, Five. I was going to do that regardless. Two might want to as well."

"Seven, Thirteen. Of course. Who else do you think would be out here?"

"Maybe Senator Mothma felt like taking a joyride. It's possible, however unlikely."

"Everyone? It's Two. I'm sorta really having technical difficulties now. Anyone mind if I go back to base?" Hobbie asked. Something on his end sounded like it had exploded.

"Two, Twelve. We don't need another person lost out here. Head back _now_."

Suddenly, the comm traffic that everyone was hoping for came in. "Nice of you guys to drop by," a certain very sarcastic voice crackled over the comm.

"Command, Lead, this is Rogue Three. I found them. Repeat, I found them."

* * *

Han felt like he was half-frozen, but he was not really caring at the moment. Rogue Squadron had managed to find them pretty quickly, and for that he was glad. Han hoped that the High Command would not send him out on any more of the scouting assignments because of this mess. Rogue Three---Han was pretty sure Zev was his name---was in the middle of landing his snow speeder. As Han was wondering how they were going to take both him and Luke back to base, the rest of the Rogues decided to grace him with their presence. Somehow, Janson managed to land his snow speeder and climb out before Zev did. Han groaned as he realized he was going to be flying back to base with Janson. 

Janson walked over and saluted. "Nice to see you're alive, Major Solo."

He was being formal. That was a bad sign. "What're you up to, Janson?"

"Why, nothing, sir," Janson replied a little too earnestly. "I was just telling a superior officer that I was glad that he has not gotten himself killed in this frozen wasteland."

Wedge and Zev had landed, and Wedge was walking over. Zev was dealing with whomever was back at the base. "Hey, Han. Where's Luke? Is he all right?"

Han grinned. "The kid's a little banged up, but he'll make it." He grimaced and continued, "However, Janson won't tell me what the hell he's up to. He's being too polite."

"Wes, what _are_ you planning?" Wedge demanded. "If this has anything to do with  
that damned snow monster Corran found, I'll report you to the High Command."

"Wedge!" Wes exclaimed, horrified. "You'd actually go as far to _report_ me, of all people? If you do that, then I'll tell them about the time you accidentally---"

"We don't need to talk about that, Wes," Wedge cut him off. "Han, how badly..."

Han shook his head. "Luke's in pretty bad shape. He was out on the plains for who knows how long, which means he might have hypothermia and possibly some frostbite, and he somehow acquired these cuts on his face. The snow speeders carry two people, right? Who are we going to have transport Luke back?"

"I volunteer Wedge," Wes decided. "He's one of the best pilots in the squad."

"Well, we know who isn't going to," Wedge murmured, meaning Wes certainly wasn't going to be assigned that task. "Han, has Luke been conscious at all?"

"Yes," Han replied. "He's been fading in and out since I found him last night. At one point, we started talking, and it seemed like he was sort of on edge about something, probably that snow monster. He didn't mention it or how he got all beat up, though."

Wes looked around. "Hey, Han, when'd your tauntaun die? I thought that it probably wouldn't have made it past the second marker, and he were are near the fifth."

Han stared at Wes. "I think it died right where you're standing," Han answered in a deadpan. "Not sure, though. There was a bad snowstorm last night. When I found Luke, he had a good half inch of snow covering him. Anyway, we should get him back to base." He turned to Wedge. "Wedge, could you give me a hand with carrying Luke?"

"Yeah, of course," Wedge replied, and the two walked into the shelter Han had put up the night before. Luke, unconscious yet again and still shivering uncontrollably, was lying next to the thermal heater and wrapped up in the pack's emergency blanket on the stretcher which had also been included in the pack. "I'm glad someone finally decided that those things should be used for their intended purpose," Wedge commented about the blankets.

"Really," Han agreed as he picked up the top part of the stretcher. Wedge picked up the other end. "We should make sure Wes doesn't pull one of his snowball wars again."

"Unless it's on a planet where we don't need emergency blankets," Wedge added as he and Han were moving Luke outside. "Of course, that would mean no snow, either."

To Han's complete and total surprise, Leia rushed over to them. "Han!" Leia exclaimed happily. Then she saw Luke. "Oh, Force... Is Luke going to---to---"

"No, Leia," Han replied calmly. She looked like she'd been really upset. "He's going to be fine. Don't worry. Everything's going to be all right, you'll see."

Leia nodded. "I'll take him back to base," she volunteered. Han and Wedge exchanged glances with each other and followed Leia back to her snow speeder. It took about fifteen minutes to transfer Luke from the stretcher to the gunner's seat in the snow speeder and secure him in. In that period of time, Han decided that he was going to be riding back to base with Wedge, despite whatever Wes had been planning. Wedge had a pretty good idea what Wes had been plotting, and it had to do with having a certain ex-smuggler riding back to base with a certain princess. Once Luke was secured in the seat, Leia jumped into the speeder and started up the engine. Han and Wedge went back to where the others were and watched Leia speed off back to the base. A few minutes out, Leia turned her comlink back on and announced, "Rogue Thirteen to Echo Base, requesting medics to be standing by at arrival." Hopefully, they would comply with the order.

"Leia? What's going on?" her mother asked over the comm unit. "Why are you pretending to be one of the Rogues? And why do you need medics to be..." She drifted off, realizing why Leia was calling for medics to be waiting. "Is it Commander Skywalker?"

Leia was really confused now. First her mother was referring to Luke by his first name, now she was giving Luke the same treatment as Han? Leia didn't understand her mother at all. Of course, her mother could have just been trying to keep from associating danger with Luke, but why would she do that? "Yes, Senator Amidala. He's suffering from hypothermia, I think, and the rest of the Rogues think that he was attacked by one of these snow monsters that Rogues Eleven and Twelve ran into."

"H-how bad are the wounds?" her mother asked. Leia started to wonder if her mother was hiding something having to do with Luke from her.

"They look bad, but they aren't serious," Leia reported. "Major Solo is completely fine. A little cold, but fine, nevertheless. He's coming back with Lieutenant Antilles."

"I'm glad to hear it," her mother told her. "Echo Base, out."

Leia turned her comm off again and started to slow down in order to enter the base's hangar and not crash into anything. She slowed and eased the speeder down once inside the hangar. A whole group of medics were awaiting her arrival. Apparently her mother had pulled a few strings. Leia hopped out of the speeder and watched as the medics put Luke on a stretcher and rushed him off to the medical wing. She decided to follow them and did.

* * *

Above the hangar was an observation area. Padmé was standing there, looking out the window, and had watched as her daughter had watched the medics take the almost frozen form of the young officer out of the back seat of the speeder. She couldn't believe that she had even allowed the Rogues to have been given the scouting jobs. If she hadn't, then maybe this disaster had not happened. Of course, the young man (_No, he's only a boy_, Padmé thought) knew the dangers when he signed up with this military outfit, but she couldn't just lose her son without ever knowing, let alone seeing, him. Padmé shook her head and wondered if she should call Anakin or not and tell him what had happened. 

"Padmé? Are you all right?" Mon asked from the doorway. "I heard that Rogue Squadron found Commander Skywalker and Major Solo... and that the commander is in need of medical attention. The medics say that he'll recover completely."

"I'm happy to hear that," Padmé replied, very relieved. "Now I won't have to tell his father about this. Anakin doesn't need to be worrying about either of the children."

Mon walked over to where Padmé was standing. "They don't know, do they?"

Padmé shook her head. "No. The Order was adamant about them not knowing each other or letting Luke even know his real name until he passes his trials."

"Major Solo suspects the truth, Padmé," Mon informed her. "He confronted Bail about it a while after Rogue Squadron found out Bail was only Leia's godfather."

"What about Luke? I haven't really talked to anyone since I arrived. Solo was talking to the girl that brought me here before he decided to join the conversation between Bail and me. We talked a little, but I couldn't really find anything out about Luke or Leia."

Mon smiled. "They're both very popular with Rogue Squadron, as you could probably tell. It makes perfect sense once you understand that Luke's command is over that squadron. He and his friend Wedge Antilles founded the squadron. The reason Leia's so popular with those, for lack of a better word, goofballs is that one of the pilots, Wes Janson, has been playing matchmaker with Solo and Leia. That, and she is their friend."

"Is Luke a good pilot like his father?" Padmé asked.

"He's one of the best, Padmé, if not the best," Mon replied. "Sometimes I wonder if he's actually better than your husband. That shot at the Death Star was one in a million."

Padmé smiled. "That reminds me of something Anakin once said to Leia: 'In this family, you have to at least blow up a space station threatening the freedom or well-being of at least one planet or negotiate some big treaty-thingy by the time you're thirty.' "

"I take it that you quoted him directly there?" Mon guessed, also smiling now.

"How could I forget? He was trying to teach her how to cook, too, so that meant that they were both covered in flour. It was hilarious. I couldn't even identify what was cooking."

Mon decided that it was time to ask. "Would you like to visit the medical center?"

Padmé nodded. "That would be really nice. Do I need any clearance at all?"

Mon shook her head. "Of course not. You're his mother. And, as it so happens, one of the four leaders of this whole operation. You can be the representative of the High Command which we sent to ascertain what has happened."

"Sometimes knowing politics this well pays off," Padmé commented.

"With it, we can simultaneously confuse and annoy most of the fighter pilots. I must say that it really is a gift," Mon agreed. "Especially when it comes to Rogue Squadron."

* * *

Han and Wedge arrived at the hospital wing about a half an hour after Senator Amidala. Chewie and Leia were already there, and, from what the two men could tell, she was a little distressed. Of course, both Han and Wedge were stretching the truth a bit with how distressed the Princess was. The medical droids had already put Luke in a bacta tank, and the Senator was talking to one of the medics about Luke's current condition. Han tapped Leia on the shoulder. She turned around, and Han told her what was going on, "Sorry we're late returning, but Wedge and I followed Corran over to where he said he'd seen that monster before checking out that metallic thing everyone kept talking about." 

Leia thought back. "The metallic object? What was it, an Imperial Probe droid?"

Wedge nodded. "Yeah. Han blew it up. Unfortunately, it had already transferred some sort of encoded message back to their fleet. The Empire probably knows that we're here. If we're lucky, though, we might be able to convince them that this is a colony."

Senator Amidala overheard the comment and informed them, "No. Certain members of the Imperial hierarchy know of the location of the base. If the others find out, then there isn't much more those with the knowledge can do to stop the battle."

"From your time spent on the Imperial base, Senator," Leia started, "how long do you think that it will take for the Imperials to gather a force and commence the attack?"

Amidala shook her head. "I'm not sure. It may be days, it may be weeks. We should start to prepare for an evacuation immediately, even if the probe droid saw nothing," she replied before going back to talking with the medic.

"Since when has the High Command been interested in the injuries that a squadron leader acquires while going on scouting missions?" Han wondered out loud.

Wedge shrugged. "I dunno, and I'm not sure I really care about the High Command at the moment. Just don't tell Wes. He'll think it's a conspiracy." He turned back to Leia. "What do the doctors say about Luke? How long are they going to keep him in the bacta?"

"It depends on how well he does," Leia replied and shook her head. "They didn't really say. You said that you looked for that snow creature? Did you find it?"

"Uh, yeah. We did," Han replied after a few seconds of silence. Neither he nor Wedge had wanted to say anything. The event had been embarrassing enough as it was.

Leia stared at her friends. They were definitely either up to something or hiding something, the latter being most likely. "And what happened?"

"We're pretty sure that's what attacked Luke, judging by the thing's claws," Wedge answered. "We found it shortly after the probe droid blew up. It ate my blaster. Don't ask."

"I wasn't planning on it, Wedge," Leia replied. She paused. "Did you tell anyone about these things so we can increase security?"

"Yes," Han replied nonchalantly. "We told the other Rogues, and they're spreading the word all around the base. We left Wes in charge of reporting to the High Command about it." Wedge could only stare at Han when he told the lie. They had truly told Rieekan.

"What!" Leia shouted, somewhat infuriated. "You left _Wes Janson_ to tell the High Command about snow creatures! Are you both insane!"

Wedge stared at the floor. "Um, no to your second question, and yes to the third. We informed General Rieekan right before we came here, but the Rogues do know."

There was another moment when all three were silent, and the atmosphere became grave again. "The kid is going to be okay, isn't he?" Han finally asked, his worry obvious.

Leia sniffed and nodded. "The doctors said he'll have a full recovery. It might take some time, like I said earlier, but they just aren't sure. It'll be a week, at max."

"Sounds like he'll come out just in time for the evacuation," Han commented. "Lucky him. No endless meetings about how we'll accomplish the exodus from this hell for him."

* * *

Not a very long way across the galaxy, a certain Dark Lord was moping around his newly constructed Super Star Destroyer. None of the others who he had met at that first meeting were also present on the ship, a fact which made him rather happy. The only possibly incompetent person he had recently run into was the Admiral controlling the ship. Force, was Ozzel annoying. Vader had always liked Piett better, and now he was having a crash course as to the reason that he had promoted Piett in the first place. Oh well, if the _Executor _and the other Star Destroyers assigned to be with the flagship came out of hyperspace too close to the system, then Ozzel will have another unexpected surprise. Vader turned subtly to watch a certain scene from the past. Ozzel was always annoying. 

The man which was responsible for a number of the probe droids called Captain Piett over and told the Captain about how he had just received a transmission from the probe droid on an icy planet called Hoth. Piett listened to what the officer had to say and was about to walk off to find Admiral Ozzel when the man came over. "Sir, we seem to have found something," the Captain reported.

"Yes, I can see that. What is it that you've found, Captain?" Ozzel demanded.

"Admiral, we have a lead from the probe droid in the Hoth system. The information is incomplete and the report sketchy at best, but it's the best lead we've had for---"

"We have hundreds of thousands of probe droids searching the galaxy for the Rebel base," Ozzel cut him off. "I want proof, not leads, Captain!"

Vader decided to break in at this point. Ozzel was wearing on his nerves. He stalked up behind Ozzel for effect before asking, "I take it you've found something, Captain?"

Both Ozzel and Piett visibly jumped before Piett replied, "Yes, sir. The droid recorded images of a generator and possibly some anti-starcraft missile silos. Earlier, there was a group of snow speeders which had what looked like Rebel markings. Furthermore, the system is supposed to be devoid of humans, and while this might be a small colony or smuggler's base, I highly doubt it since everything else seems to point to the Rebels."

Vader pretended to consider it and looked at the screen on which the tape was playing before snapping at Ozzel, "That's it." Before Ozzel could protest, Vader cut him off. "The Rebel base is there. Set course for the Hoth system," he ordered and whirled around.  
Veers was standing there, looking completely at attention. Ozzel was standing off to the side, looking shocked. "General Veers, prepare your men for the ground assault." Vader watched his subordinates scurry off to accomplish their tasks. The only thing that might be even a little different about that conversation was Piett talking a little more, Ozzel talking less (always a bonus), and there had been no mention of a certain Force-strong Rebel.

* * *

Said Rebel was finally finished with the bacta treatments and currently lying in a hospital bed. Luke decided that he was never again going to be injured badly enough to merit another dip in the bacta. Then again, the positive side of the whole debacle was that he had not had to take part in the planning of the impending evacuation of the Hoth base. Wedge had visited him already and informed him of Rogue Squadron's newest prank on the High Command. Luke had been less than amused to hear that it had to do with the snow creature which had been identified as a wampa. Wedge had assured him that he hadn't approved of it either. After a couple of minutes of catching up, Wedge had left to go try and keep the Rogues under control. Han and Chewie arrived shortly thereafter. 

Chewie barked hello, and Han grinned. "Hey, Kid. Feeling better?"

Luke smiled back and nodded. "Thanks to you," he replied gratefully.

"So that's how many you owe me now?" Han asked, jokingly. Leia entered the room at this point. "Why hello, Your Highness. I've heard that you managed to keep me around here for a few more days. I didn't know you cared."

"Do be so full of yourself, Solo," Leia shot back, peeved at Han's behavior. "General Rieekan decided that none of the ships could leave the system for the rendez-vous point until the shield generators are active. It had absolutely nothing to do with me."

"I must admit that makes sense," Han acquiesced before grinning and continuing, "But _I _ think you just couldn't let me out of your sight."

"I wonder how these ideas enter your head. You're delusional, laser brains," Leia shot back, rolling her eyes. Chewie laughed at the exchange between the two.

"Laugh it up, fuzzball!" Han told Chewie. "You didn't see us alone in the south passage! She expressed her true feelings for me." Luke was trying not to laugh.

Leia snapped, finally loosing her temper completely. She was struggling to come up with an insult. "You---you half-witted, scruffy-looking nerfherder! I said no such thing!"

Han looked genuinely hurt, but Luke soon learned otherwise. "Who's scruffy-looking?" He turned to Luke, grinning. "I must've hit pretty close to the mark. Right, Kid?"

Luke shrugged. He didn't particularly want to get involved in this particular fight. Leia glanced at him then back at Han. "You don't understand anything about women," Leia declared to Han then walked over and kissed Luke, much to the surprise of the other occupants of the room, before storming out of the room.

Han and Luke were staring at the spot where Leia had been, completely silent. Finally, Luke managed to break the silence, if only to assure Han that Leia was probably just trying to make Han jealous. "That was weird. It felt like I was kissing my sister."

* * *

Vader grinned like an idiot when Veers informed him that Ozzel had come out of hyperspace too late, meaning that the Rebel's shield on Hoth was up. After he dismissed the General, he brought up a line to the bridge and had a little discussion with Ozzel for the last time again. Ozzel fell over with a gasp, and Vader concluded the transmission, "You are in command now, Admiral Piett." Piett was such a better officer. Knew when to shut up, too. 

Vader stood up and walked to the bridge. By the time he reached his normal position next to the viewports, the Battle of Hoth was underway. The strategy of the day for the Rebels was fire a few blasts at whatever Star Destroyer was nearest the Rebel transport, then have the transport try to escape to hyperspace with two X-wings or other fighters flanking it. Like in the other reality, it was working. Vader didn't really care whether the Rebel Alliance escaped. The bigger prize was the overthrowing of Palpatine. In the current reality, there was nothing wrong with the system that wasn't also wrong back in the reality Vader was from. In fact, many things seemed much better here than there. Maybe he could rig it so the less-corrupt Republic triumphed over the Empire at the Battle of Endor while saving the brilliant military minds and ships. That would be the best of all possible worlds.

Veers disrupted the Dark Lord's reverie by reporting that the shield generators were in sight. Vader gave the command to open fire then headed down to a hangar bay to fly a transport down to maybe catch the Princess (_Damn her similarity with Padmé!_) and Solo, the ever annoying smuggler, before they escaped the planet. The battle was probably going the same way it had been with the snow speeders tying up the legs of the AT-ATs and acting like annoying little bugs to the larger vehicles. The Rebellion was no doubt suffering heavy losses, but the thought that something could go different entered Vader's head. He quashed the thought as fast as it had surfaced, and the ship landed on the planet.

Vader stalked around for a while before finding a platoon of snowtroopers and heading around the base, looking for Solo and the Princess. After a nice amount of stalking and storming, he decided to go to the hangar and see if they were there. As he thought, the _Millennium Falcon_, or the _Ancient Rust Bucket_ as he liked to call it, was prepping to leave. The snowtroopers were setting up a gatling gun, but the ship blasted out of the hangar before even the first shot had been fired. Vader wasn't surprised, and he calmly made his way back to the shuttle he had flown down to the planet in and flew back to the _Executor_.  
A few minutes later, the Dark Lord of the Sith made a call to a certain bounty hunter.

* * *

Leia was not happy. Leia was far from happy. Leia was downright furious. Han wondered why she was angry with him. It wasn't his fault that the hyperdrive on the _Falcon_ wasn't working. After their close call with Vader, Han had decided to hightail it out of the system only to find that the hyperdrive was broken. To remedy this, Han and Chewie had decided to take the ship into the asteroid field, and they were now sitting in a cavern inside one of the larger asteroids. Goldenrod, who had managed to gain permission to board the ship, was repeating the phrase, "We're doomed!" over and over again. That didn't help with the atmosphere all that much. After a while, Han managed to talk the prissy droid into helping by translating what the _Falcon_'s computer was trying to say. 

A few minutes later, Han ran into Leia in the hallway. There was an interesting discussion, and Han knew now that Leia really did like him. They had actually kissed, but Threepio accidentally walked in on them. That ruined the mood fast, and Leia had rushed out of the room at mach speed, leaving a disappointed and somewhat angry smuggler glaring at a confused protocol droid. The glaring finally got to the droid, who walked off, and Han calmed down a little. He had no clue why he was acting like he had been, and to make matters worse, Han felt a little weird liking a girl ten years younger than him, but at the same time, it felt right, too. Maybe it was fate? Shaking his head, Han went back to work.

* * *

Luke had met up with the rest of the Rogues at their rendezvous point. It was different than the place where the rest of the Alliance was supposed to be meeting. He had personally requested the mission to go talk with the Jedi Council on the planet they were on. From the looks on the faces of the members of the High Command, it seemed like they had no clue where the Jedi were supposed to be, so Luke took it as a sign that he had not been hallucinating about a deceased Jedi Master after he had escaped from the wampa. Checking his radar screen, the whole squadron was presently in the Dagobah system. He turned the comm system on. "Rogue Leader to Rogue Two. How many of us do you think we should send down to the surface? I was thinking about half the squad. And then, who?" 

There was a somewhat long pause from Wedge. "I dunno, Luke. Half the squad sounds good, but it would look a little conspicuous to Imp Intel if there were six X-wings orbiting around a primitive swamp planet. Then again, I'm guessing you mean to have the other six hide around and keep on guard for any Imps, so that would be useful." Wedge paused again, thinking about whom they should send down. "As to the ground crew... You need to go since you're the leader. Corran would probably like to go. I'm guessing you meant to assign me down there, too. Tycho's one of the few obvious choices due to his patience. Hobbie would prefer to stay relatively out of danger for the moment, considering how banged up his X-wing is, and Wes would have a fit if we left him out in space."

Luke grinned. "Exactly what I was thinking. You think Dack and Zev'll be all right hiding out there, though? Their X-wings are in pretty bad shape, maybe even worse than Hobbie's. They'd have to be assigned to either Inyri or Ooryl."

Wedge replied immediately. "I'd assign Inyri to Dack. They worked well together while we were all searching for you back on Hoth. It sounds like you're keeping Jesmin and Asyr together, so when're you going to announce this to the squad?"

"Now," Luke replied before switching from the private channel to the squadron's collective channel. "Well, Rogues. Half of us are going down, the other half gets to camp out in-system, but for the sake of the Imps' Intel, make yourselves scarce. The ground crew, Flight Delta, is comprised of me, Two, Four, Five, Seven, and Ten. Everyone else is Flight Echo. Before anyone starts complaining: Three, I don't think you'd be able to make an atmosphere landing in one piece; Six, that goes for you, too. Eight, you're with Six. Nine, Ten. Three, Eleven. Any questions?"

"Yes, Lead," Wes replied. "I was wondering if you know why the Jedi would be on this swampy planet which has no technology? I would have thought they'd go for Hapes."

Before Tycho could tell Wes to be quiet, Corran replied sarcastically, "Right. And I'm a Kowakian monkey lizard's uncle. The Queen of Hapes hates all of the Jedi."

"Now come on guys, this isn't the time to be bickering," Luke tried to mediate. Needless to say, it did not work all that well. Wes and Corran were now in the middle of a completely pointless conversation about why the Jedi would not be on Hapes. "Okay," Luke said, partially to silence the two, but mostly to get down to business. It was necessary that they make this trip as quick as possible. "Flight Echo, go hide out but make sure to contact me or Wedge if any Imperials show up. Flight Delta, start your decent."

"Aye, aye, Commander!" Wes replied cheerfully as the two groups split up and went their separate ways. It only took a few minutes to reach the planet's atmosphere, and that was when the trouble began. However, only two of the six were having problems with the planet's atmosphere. The two which the Jedi Council knew would have no trouble landing their craft, hence the exercise. The remaining four were given instructions via comlink (in addition to lights to guide them down). Corran grumbled a long strain of Corellian curses under his breath, and Luke momentarily wondered if he should have listened to Qui-Gon.

It was a rough landing for them all, but the X-wings made it down to the surface more or less intact. The only mishap was that Luke had landed in the middle of a swamp, much to his annoyance. After calming himself down, Luke got out of his X-wing. He looked down at the swamp, the swamp seemed to stare back, and Luke decided that he was just going to wait for his friends to find him. Who knows what was in there, and he wasn't planning to find out. Artoo was currently peering over the edge of the X-wing, too. _If he falls in, I'm so not going to get him out unless he almost gets eaten_, Luke decided just as Artoo used his hoverjets to glide over to what could be considered the bank of the swamp. Artoo whistled something to the effect of, "Come on! It's just a little swamp on a remote planet! What could possibly go wrong? It's not like there's some monster lurking beneath the surface." As if on cue, some sort of swamp monster surfaced and started circling around the X-wing. Luke sensed more than a little Force-manipulation at work and tried to locate the Jedi Master who was most likely responsible for the whole thing. "Master Skywalker! Could you call off the monster from the black lagoon?" he whined. "I don't need you making fun of me, too!"

Laughing a little, Anakin came out of from behind where Artoo was. He grinned. "Sorry, Kid. I couldn't resist. I wonder how you managed to land in that particular mud-hole, though. Oh, and the so-called swamp monster is actually Adi covered with brown algae. She only agreed to do this as a sort of revenge against Yoda's cooking."

Luke just stared at the Jedi Master, completely confused as to why that would make one of the most respected Jedi Masters swim around in a swamp in aid of a practical joke. Luke ignored that question and instead asked, "Should I take my X-wing somewhere else?"

Anakin thought about it and shook his head. "Nah. We'll get it unstuck later," he decided. Smiling at Luke, he continued a little more seriously, "So are you going to sit there all day, or are you going to come over here? I know you aren't all that fond of swamps, but I think it might be a little hard for the Council to talk to you and the others about the Rebellion."

Luke's face turned red. Why did Master Skywalker always act like this, joking one moment and concerned the next? It only happened around Luke, too. He knew that much from Corran and some of the other apprentices. What the older Jedi had mentioned was an incident about six years before when Anakin and Obi-Wan had been assigned a mission which would be perfect to take Corran and Luke on. No one had been injured, but Luke had been dragged under for a few moments by a diagona which had been waiting in the murky water of a swamp that they had been traveling through. Needless to say, the event had been somewhat traumatic to Luke, causing his mild phobia and the current predicament.

"Do you want me to levitate you over?" Anakin asked concernedly, sensing Luke's uneasiness. "It's all right. There's nothing wrong with being scared, and I really don't mind."

If Luke had been in any other situation and the person saying that had not been Anakin, Luke would have glared and taken offense at that statement. It was true that his fear of swamps wasn't as bad as his arachnophobia, but he was still afraid. If any of the Rogues found out... Luke didn't want to even think about it, but a voice in the back of his head told him that not even Wes would pull a prank like that. Regardless, the sooner he was out of the situation, the better, even if it did mean admitting that he was scared to the one person he respected the most. Making up his mind, Luke shut his eyes and nodded.

Anakin smiled and easily levitated the entire X-wing out of the swamp and set it down on a patch of mostly dry ground a few meters away. From the other side of the swamp, Adi, still completely covered in kelp, rolled her eyes and murmured, "Showoff," which Anakin decided to ignore. Anakin strode over to Luke, who had climbed down from the X-wing immediately after it had been set down. Artoo followed for lack of anything better to do than listen in on their conversation. "Better now?" Anakin asked.

"Y-yes," Luke replied. "I'm sorry I froze up---I should have a better control of my emotions." He paused, embarrassed. He was seventeen, for Force's sake! He shouldn't act like a scared child. "Please don't tell the others!" Luke pleaded, a little frantic. "I just---"

"Calm down. Being afraid is nothing to be ashamed of, Luke," Anakin said, attempting to allay Luke's embarrassment. Anakin seemed a little troubled by the plea to not tell the other Rogues about the incident, but the moment passed. Luke couldn't even hazard a guess as to what the Jedi Master was thinking. "Besides, no one needs to know about this, and Adi isn't going to say anything other than I convinced her to act like a swamp monster." There was a brief pause before Anakin continued, "It's getting late. We should head over to where the Council and your friends are."

Luke nodded, very happy to end the conversation there, and followed Anakin to where the others were supposed to be. They took a winding pathway through the dense forest, and Luke had a feeling of déja-vu. _Maybe this is supposed to be one of the other places where my path intersects with my other self..._ he thought. After all, it made sense. If someone on the Jedi Council had thought to come to this planet in this world, then wouldn't the same Jedi Master come here in the other reality? Luke decided to halt his train of thought. It was just too confusing to think of other realities since he had no proof of them, and he was still trying to maintain that he was probably just having a hallucination back on Hoth. Luke barely noticed that Master Skywalker gave him a weird look when Luke had thought about the supposed vision, and Luke just ignored it. Within a few minutes, they reached their destination, and half the Council was ready to shove a certain Rogue off his mortal coil.

"I see Flight Officer Janson has already made friends with the Council," Anakin commented wryly, causing the majority of the people there to roll their eyes. "So, since we're all here, why not get down to business?" Since none of the other Council members said anything and Yoda happened to be making dinner ("Escaped the crazies, I did"), Anakin turned to Rogue Squadron and started to interrogate them. "What's the Rebellion up to these days? Anything even semi-interesting happen recently?"

Tycho shrugged. "You could say that. We just evacuated from our base on Hoth."

"And an Imperial spy or assassin (we're not quite sure what she was) delivered Senator Amidala from the Imps a few days, maybe a week, back," Wes added. "It was a very interesting experience. I had the feeling the Imp was just barely keeping herself from telling me to shut up, but I don't generally have that effect on people until I meet them."

"Which means that we probably know this person," Hobbie deduced. The Rogues said little to nothing about that point until Wes commented, "Do you think that Isard's been telling all the Imperials about how 'God damn annoying' we are?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Tycho replied before turning to the Council. "So, we've supposedly been planning a major attack on an Imperial held world, but I think that might be postponed until we find a base and actually stay there for a while."

Corran nodded and continued the report. "We're supposed to regroup around the Sullust area, but I think it was changed to this one planet, either Nesrohba or GO-1984, but I'm almost positive that it was Nesrohba since the new government just decided that they were going to support the Alliance. The new base is probably going to be located there."

"The High Command would like to know if any of the Jedi would be for helping with the cause in any way, shape, or form," Wedge added. "Any help at all would be very greatly appreciated, due to our somewhat poor spirits after our evacuation."

Wes stared at Wedge. "_After_ our evacuation? Wedge! Everyone's freaking happy as hell that we're finally leaving that frozen wasteland we called Hoth! I bet most of the fleet's celebrating the evacuation. Remember that we were actually planning on throwing a party for all of the fighter pilot squadrons (even the A-wing squads) when we left?"

Luke tried to ignore Janson and finished the report that the High Command wanted him to give. "In conclusion, we're not on Hoth anymore. The Rebellion's in transit to Nesrohba, and we're setting up base in the Y'sat Naflan-if system on the third planet from the sun, YSNI-3. Senators Organa, Mothma, and Bel Ibis are returning to Coruscant for the time being due to certain investigations which are taking place, leaving Senator Amidala to be at the base constantly. We plan to launch an attack on Imperial space in approximately one month on Mustafar, which Flight Officer Janson believes is the Imperial base. If that is actually the case, we probably will call off the attack and strike someplace less secure. The Rebellion also requests some military support from any of the Jedi, and the High Command wishes to know if there is any sort of spy network set up at all."

"I've been highly involved in the process of setting one up, but there is no definite system as of yet," Aalya replied. "We're still trying to find a way to infiltrate the Imperial Navy without the Sith knowing of our presence. However, once the program is off the ground, I'm sure that we would be able to facilitate the Alliance's current network."

At this point, the Council started to ask questions of the fighter pilots, and the first of them to start asking questions was Mace, who had been particularly concerned about the current state of affairs within the Alliance and specifically the win-loss records. "Concerning the Alliance's current record in battles won to battles lost, it seems as if we are losing the war, and not just losing the war, but losing the war by a long stretch. Is that only a statistical fluke, and the truth is the opposite, or is there some other explanation?"

Tycho was the most informed about that sort of data since he was friendly with Winter, the living encyclopedia, and answered the question. "The Alliance has managed to recruit a good deal of people after every battle, mostly from the then Imperial-held worlds, and our ranks have grown a great deal since the Battle of Yavin. We do lose battles on a regular basis from the Imperial point of view, but we generally complete most of the mission objectives of any mission which ended up resulting in a battle, Citenik and Hoth excluded. Selttiks was a unique circumstance where we, Rogue Squadron, and the 181st decided that the entire battle was pointless, and we went our separate ways and made up an excuse for ditching the battle. We said we had an organized retreat; they said they soundly defeated us. It worked out both ways, but we did eventually tell the truth."

"And is the newest base on YSNI-3 currently at least partially set up, or is the Alliance going to start from scratch?" Plo asked. "What does the High Command think is a good time for the Council to start sending Jedi to help with the resistance? Or would it be wiser for the two groups to work independently of one another?"

"The High Command has little opinion on that point," Luke replied. "They feel that it would be beneficial for the two groups to work together, however, there is the security issue to be dealt with. If the location of one of the group's bases is discovered by the Imperials through the interrogation of a captured member of either group, then it would be better if the person did not know where the other group was supposed to be located."

"Meaning we have to stay here and weather more of Yoda's cooking," Anakin concluded rather morosely and whined, "Why couldn't we all just have been in one place?"

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and said, "Keep it down, Anakin. If you insist on talking so loud, Yoda might hear you, and we'll all be in trouble, which we don't need. Remember what he made last night? I don't think it was just me that had no clue what it was."

"Yoda said something about mushrooms," Adi mentioned, "which was why I didn't even attempt to eat it, much less figure out what it was." On that note, she turned to the Rogues. "If you're finished with the information sharing now, I suggest you get out of here before Yoda finishes dinner. If you thought rations were bad..."

Somewhat disturbed, Wes' eyes widened. "There's actually a food which is worse than rations?" he asked, hoping it wasn't true, but Adi nodded. Wes turned to the other Rogues. "As much as I'd like to try out whatever recipe that is on the High Command..." Wes shuddered, and ignoring the frantic prankster, Wedge asked, "Is there anything other information that we should take back to the Alliance?"

The Jedi Council thought about it for a minute or so before Depa replied, "No, not really. If anything important comes up, we can always just comm the Rebellion."

Tycho was confused. "Then what was the purpose of our coming here?" he queried.

Aaron glanced at Yoda's hut, making sure he wasn't around. "We needed to talk to someone else. This place is starting to feel like a desert island of which we cannot get off. If we have to stay here for years, I can't imagine what we'd be like once we finally left."

"Wow. A few years of only having each other and Yoda to talk to? I'd say that's cruel and unusual punishment," Corran stated. "Oh, and Kyle sends his regards. I'll tell him you envied his commando job because he can escape the base every once in a while."

"Was the planet of Hoth really that bad?" Mace asked. "In most of the mission reports that your squadron passed on to us, it was called many negative things having to do with frozen water and the netherworld. Most of the Council has been wondering as to the veracity of those claims for various reasons including a want to leave this planet."

All of the Rogues present looked at each other, and Hobbie answered. "Um, first off, words couldn't describe how horrible Hoth was, and second of all, it would probably be a smarter idea to go to Mustafar than to go to Hoth, but that depends on your tastes."

* * *

It was a dark and somewhat stormy night in the city of Nod'nol, and a certain assassin was stalking about aimlessly. She had just been at a cinema and watched one of the old classics of film (when it had still been 2-D). The film had been a musical which had a large resemblance to the opera La Bôhème and the main character of the story looked eerily like a certain Jedi Master who was to remain anonymous. Regardless of her activities earlier in the day, Mara was now looking for a tavern by the name of Serenity. It was a well known bar, and she had only needed to follow the drunks which were rambling around to find it. In the bar, she was supposed to meet with an Imperial spy who was hiding among the Rebels. Mara had long entertained the notion of killing the spy, but she decided that it would be bad form. Plus, she had the sneaking suspicion that it was against the Jedi Code. 

After a few minutes, she reached the bar and entered. It was the usual type of bar, filled with all sorts of miscreants and privateers, as well as the permanent drunk or two. She sat down at the bar in the most lighted space available in order to escape what she knew was the standard cliché of badly lit taverns. Within a few minutes, she started getting hit on and could only hope that the annoying person was actually her contact. After some more waiting and weathering the annoyance, she demanded, "Do I know you?"

The irksome man replied, "Maybe, Jade. Damn. I never thought you would be my contact." He ordered two drinks. "Anyway, what brings you to these parts?"

Mara rolled her eyes. "What do you think, idiot? I'm here because you're a turncoat."

The other laughed. "My God, Mara. It's only been a year and a half, and you've already forgotten me? Geez. If this is how much you don't remember me, then I guess you really have gone native and joined the Empire. That makes my mission a lot harder."

The answer as to why this person was being so informal with her suddenly hit Mara. "Katarn, if you wish to live, never think that I joined that stupid group because I wanted to."

Kyle grinned. "I thought as much. Actually, everyone else thinks as much too. Oh, and nice job with Han. He didn't say a thing, and everyone else is equally clueless." He paused. "Were you really supposed to have killed Luke? It doesn't really seem the Emperor's style. As far as I knew, he hated GMT's guts."

Mara took a drink from whatever Kyle had ordered for them. She hoped it wasn't alcoholic; bad things happened when she drank, specifically when people were rankling her. "Oh, he did. That was only if Luke wouldn't join the Empire, which we know he wouldn't. I was under special orders from our friendly, neighborhood Dark Lord of the Sith."

Kyle shot her a strange look. "Who? Wait---you actually trust one of the Dark Lords? What---why would he not want Luke dead? ...Is he smarter than Palpatine?"

Mara laughed: she was imagining what Kyle would say if she told him that Vader was Anakin. "If you're looking for someone who you could compare him with, let's just say that he's like an evil, angsty, and constantly angry Anakin Skywalker who doesn't suffer fools." She paused. "How's the base-relocation process doing?" Kyle, who had been drinking, spat out his drink. "What?" Mara demanded. "I'm part of the Imperial elite; of course I'd know about the current state of the Rebellion. That, and said Dark Lord told me about what is going to happen in the near future. And speaking of that, do you know where everyone in Rogue Squadron is? Has anyone not shown up to the rendez-vous point?"

Kyle stared at her. "How do I know that you aren't going to turn around and tell the boss Imps about their location?" he demanded. "Besides, I'm only a commando; why would I know about that information, huh, Mara? Seriously!"

Mara shook her head. "You really don't believe in me anymore, do you? Fine. I'll tell you all some information in exchange for the answer to the question I just asked. Our base is on Mustafar." Kyle winced, probably realizing that someone had been right about the base and that he owed said person money. Mara continued, "Furthermore, the 'leaders' of my side's little shindig are the Dark Lords of the Sith, Darth Maul, Darth Tyrannus (the Dark Lord formerly known as Count Dooku), and Darth He-who-shall-remain-nameless. Dark Jedi Ventress hangs around with them, too, and the base rejoices when any of them get ordered off of Mustafar. Or when Sir Coughs-A-Lot joins the fleet. Oh, and I suggest you have the High Command try to convince Grand Admiral Red-eyes to join you; he's a damn good strategist, and he'll spell doom for you if he stays with the Empire."

"You aren't going to tell me this Admiral's name?" Kyle asked, and received a shake of the head in return. "Fine. That other information's good enough. Especially about the Dark Lords and the formerly deceased Grieves. Wouldn't have expected that guy to show back up," Kyle mused. "On to business, though. A deal's a deal. Luke and the others are on a planet out in the middle of nowhere talking to the Jedi Council about stuff."

Mara was a little disheartened. So everything was going as Vader had told her. Was he planning on repeating everything, though? If so... She had to warn the others. "Good. Do you think they're still there?" Kyle shrugged. Mara sighed in frustration. "Fine. Well, try and get a message out to the Rogues that they are under no circumstances to let Luke go anywhere alone, and by that, I mean they cannot let him go off to some random planet while they head back to the rendez-vous. Also, try and tell Solo and the Princess that they should call for help from the Rebellion instead of heading off to some random planet."

Kyle frowned. "I can't do that, Mara. The _Falcon_'s going off to some planet called Bespin to get repaired from the battle at Hoth, and Leia explicitly told the High Command not to send anyone after them lest the _Falcon_ be captured. The Rogues are under a comm silence with the fleet to prevent the absolute minimum leaking of information."

Mara was silent for a few moments. "Then they're going to have to face the Dark Lord alone---again. Why is he so damn insistent on repeating the events of the other reality here?" Mara demanded to no one in particular. She looked toward the door. "Kyle, you and that Jan girl have to get out of here soon. My backup's coming in about five minutes."

Kyle looked toward the door, too. "Maybe. You do know you're in a completely Rebel-friendly tavern, right? I was supposed to have killed whomever the Empire sent, but since you're obviously Rebel-friendly, I've decided to ignore those orders."

Mara shook her head. "You're insane, Katarn. I should have just stayed away from you and the Corellian and Skywalker. I would be a lot better off if I had..." she trailed off and left the bar, leaving a very confused Jedi apprentice to think about what his friend had said.

* * *

Leia was worried. _No_, she corrected herself, _I am righteously scared of what will happen if Han didn't get the hyperdrive working_. They had already finished doing repairs inside the asteroid before she had figured out there was something odd about the cave they were in. Han had realized that they were inside one of the semi-mythical space worms, and they had hightailed it out of there just in time. Currently, they were trying to make it out into space where they could try to make the jump to hyperspace. Han had already worked out a place they could get to without the hyperdrive, but they were planning on leaving that way, regardless. Apparently one of Han's friends owned a mining operation there. Leia didn't care at the moment. She just wanted to get away from the Dark Lord she knew was nearby. She had felt the man's dark presence back on the surface of Hoth when she and Han had almost been captured, and what had truly been frightening about the experience was how familiar that presence had been. Leia shook her head to get rid of those thoughts, and Han entered the room. He grinned. "Well, sweetheart, it looks like we're going to be able to manage a hyperspace jump from here to somewhere near Bespin." 

Leia smiled. "Then we're safe from the Imperials at least for a little while," she added. "You really can trust this friend of yours, right? He's not going to turn us over to the---"

"No, Your Highness. Lando wouldn't do that unless... Well, let's just say that he'd have to be in dire straights not to help us, Leia," Han replied. "We should actually be more worried about the Empire hiring bounty hunters to chase after us."

Leia nodded, knowing Han was right, and Chewie came in. He took the co-pilot's seat, and Han and Chewie started the path out of the asteroid field. About halfway out, TIEs started to find the _Falcon_, and they were chased right into a path which intersected with the path of the Star Destroyer _Avenger_. Chewie expressed his beliefs that they would barely be able to make it away from the Star Destroyer, if at all.

"Don't be so pessimistic, Chewie," Han retorted. "We're going to get away from that thing just fine, and if not... You remember that stunt we pulled a few years back, right?"

Chewie turned to look at Han and commented about how they had almost been killed the last time Han had tried to latch onto the back of a Star Destroyer's control tower.

They neared the outside of the asteroid system and the Star Destroyer, and the _Falcon_ was hailed by the _Avenger_, telling them that if they surrendered now, they wouldn't have to damage the ship. Han and Chewie exchanged a glance, and Chewie told him that he thought the Imperials had some idiots running their comm systems. Once they were actually in clear space, the _Falcon_ had to do some fancy flying in order to avoid the _Avenger_ and its complement of TIEs. There was a tense few minutes on the _Falcon_ before the old freighter decided that maybe it would be a good idea for it to run like there was no tomorrow and jump into hyperspace. For now, the _Falcon _had avoided any Imperial entanglements of the vaporizing kind and was well on its way to Bespin, albeit being followed by the _Slave I_.

* * *

Darth Vader was not particularly angry today. Everything was going according to plan or, he reconsidered, to the past. Solo and the Princess would be running away to the planet Bespin, and Needa, like before, had not been able to catch them. This time, however, the man had had a feasible explanation: they had escaped into hyperspace once the ship had cleared the asteroid field. _Shouldn't that ship (and I use the term lightly) have not been able to even enter hyperspace?_ he thought. It only made sense. The point was, Vader had been lenient with Needa because he already knew what was going to happen and therefore didn't need to be angry at the man for losing the ship. Besides, Fett would no doubt find the annoying smuggler. Apparently there was some sort of vendetta which Fett felt was between him and Solo and Calrissian. Vader turned around and walked away from the viewports on the bridge of the _Executor_ to go back to his chambers when Piett came over. "My lord," the admiral started. "The Supre---the Emperor demands to speak with you immediately. He did not say why, just that it was very urgent." 

"Thank you, Admiral," Vader said before stomping off to receive the call. He could only wonder what this call would be about. He wasn't sure how he would respond if the topic of discussion was the same as what it had been. Vader stepped into the comm room and kneeled in front of the Emperor. _Why did he have to have chosen to clone himself so that he looked as young as I had been when I turned? _Vader wondered idly before saying the stock phrase, "What is thy bidding, my master?" Xizor was supposedly listening in on this conversation between him and the Emperor. From when and where was this Xizor?

"There is a great disturbance in the Force, Lord Vader. I am sure you know whose presence it would belong to, yes?" Palpatine stated. Vader didn't dare look up, but he knew the dictator was smirking. No doubt Xizor was disassembling the conversation, too.

"...Yes, my master," Vader replied hesitantly. Should he come out and say he knew who it was? Or should he keep trying to hide the truth? "I am not sure of whom you speak, though. There are a great many Jedi in this galaxy, and I cannot pick out specific presences as well as I could back in my reality, Emperor. It could be anyone, even Yoda."

The Emperor would be frowning now. Maybe he didn't know that Vader knew? "Hm, it is strange that you are unsure. Regardless, we have a new enemy: the son of Skywalker is more dangerous to us than his father is."

_Dammit. The old fool thinks Luke's more dangerous than I or my alter-ego is, which I will admit is true in a way._ "Skywalker?" Vader asked incredulously, hiding his knowledge. "He's just a boy. How could one that young even pose a threat? The elder Skywalker and the Council are infinitely more of a threat to us and the Empire, my master."

"No, Lord Vader. The Force is very strong in the boy; he must be destroyed."

So Vader was to play this game again. It would be easy enough to fool the Emperor, but would Xizor be able to buy it? Probably. The rest of the Dark Lords would be infuriated when they learned of what Vader was about to propose. "My master," Vader ventured, "what it he could be turned? He would undoubtedly be a powerful ally."

The Emperor would be thinking about the proposition, and he replied wistfully, "Yes. You are correct, Lord Vader. He would be a great asset. Can it be done?"

Vader smiled darkly. "He will join us," he replied before tacking on the "or die, my master," to placate the Emperor, who then started laughing maniacally before cutting the transmission. Vader left the room, and while walking back to the bridge he idly wondered why Obi-Wan or any of the Council had ever let him near that psychopathic politician.

* * *

On Bespin, Lando Calrissian was counting the profits from the past month's tibanna gas sales and trying to work out how to distribute the money to the general populace of Cloud City when a certain bounty hunter decided to come calling. Lando was informed of this development via Lobot, and he decided to greet the unwelcome guest at the landing platform personally. The less contact Cloud City had with Boba Fett, the better. Hell, the less contact Lando had with Fett, the better. When Lando had first met Han, they had made a rather bad impression on the infamous bounty hunter, and Fett still wanted revenge. Lando keyed the code in to open the door to the landing platform. "Fett." 

The bounty hunter in green beat-up Mandalorian armor was standing right at the door. "Calrissian." He stepped inside the door. "I'm not here to settle my quarrel with you this time. In fact, I'm actually here to settle my quarrel with Solo, but it's a job. He's coming here to have repairs made to the _Millennium Falcon_. My employers would be most displeased if you were to harbor the ship, which I might add has members of the Rebellion aboard. I'm sure you know what would happen if the Empire were to learn that you harbored fugitives from the law, so you are going to fully cooperate, correct? And don't think about having me arrested (not that you could): I already informed the Empire."

Lando glared at Fett. He was backed into a corner. Yes, Lando had a duty to Han as his friend to help him, but he was the Baron-Administrator of Cloud City first and foremost. The safety of the citizens unfortunately trumped his duty to Han. If it hadn't, then Fett would be on his way to becoming a newly manufactured carbonite desk. "Fine, Fett. Tell your employers that I'll detain Han and the _Falcon_. Who are they anyway?"

If Fett's helmet had been transparent, Lando would have known that Fett was smirking. "I'm sure you're familiar with the name Darth Vader?"

Lando's eyes widened in shock. "Vader's the Imperial military's dreaded Supreme Commander---the man who took over the job for Warender. Why is he interested in Han!"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that information, Calrissian. You should better ready this installation for the Imperials. I've heard that Vader has a nasty temper," Fett replied nonchalantly. "Oh, and I'd have your technicians ready the carbon freezing chamber for a human to be frozen. Vader stipulated that point when he hired me."

Lando resumed glaring at Fett as the bounty hunter outlined everything that Lando was supposed to do in preparation for the Imperial's imminent arrival. As soon as he could, he left the bounty hunter to his own devices and made some plans of his own. He would still have the Cloud City mechanics look at the _Falcon _and fix whatever was wrong. If he knew that ship, and Lando knew it pretty well, whatever had gone wrong had been the result of someone, most likely Han or Chewie, making an offhand comment about how whatever component was going to break next while they were fixing another problem. After the Imperials got whatever they wanted, then Lando would hightail it out of there with Han and Chewie. It didn't sound like the Imperials wanted the _Falcon _and it's passengers. It sounded like Han and all else on the ship were only the means to acquire an end.

Lando wondered what end the Imperials were trying to get to while he set out to follow the orders that the Imperials had given Fett to give to him. He had only needed to wait for a day or two for the Imperials to actually make their appearance. Too soon after that, Lando received a message that the _Millennium Falcon _had landed on Bespin, and he again made his way to another landing platform. If only Han had arrived a few days sooner! Then this whole mess could have been avoided. Lando walked out to greet his old friend which he was about to betray. The _Falcon_ landed as smoothly as it normally did, and the landing ramp dropped soon afterwards. The first person off the ramp was Chewie, who exclaimed something to the effect of "Land!" and he was shortly followed by Han, who rolled his eyes at Chewie's theatrics, and a girl who looked oddly like the Senator-Princess of Alderaan. Lando hoped it wasn't her; if she was, then the young Rebel would be in for it for sure.

Lando put on a smile. Maybe he could warn Han of the danger? "Why, you slimy, double-crossing, no-good swindler," Lando greeted his friend.

Han obviously had not expected that to be the greeting he was going to receive. "No hard feelings?" Han asked, unsure if he had been forgiven for a certain escapade on Ylesia a few years before, although it seemed like Lando had forgiven him at the time.

Lando grinned. "Are you kidding?" He shook his head. "Of course not. Remember? I told you back then that we all believed that you didn't know about the betrayal. And that certain card game is ancient history. So, how've you been doing? I heard from some old  
friends you were going to visit Nar Shaddaa soon. Something keep you away?" he asked.

Han shrugged, obviously relieved that Lando didn't harbor any hard feelings, and replied, "Chewie and I got held up for various reasons. And as to why we're here..." Han trailed off, and Chewie concluded the statement by informing Lando that the hyperdrive was on the fritz again and that the system therefore needed fixing.

"I figured as much," Lando admitted before addressing Leia. "Forgive my manners. I'm Lando Calrissian, Baron-Administrator of Cloud City. Welcome to Bespin, Miss...?"

"Leia. Just Leia," she replied civilly. That solved that case, anyway. Han's friend did happen to be the Princess of Alderaan, the Senator who was said to be the next Senator Amidala (figuratively speaking). What the sludge papers said about both Senators was part of what Lando was worried about: those reporters were pretty sure that the Princess' real father happened to be certain unstable Jedi Master. No one wanted to cross that guy.

"Nice to meet you, Leia," Lando said, acting a more than a little suavely just to annoy Han, and turned back to Han. "I'll get my mechanics working on it as soon as possible." Lando searched for an excuse to stall the meeting with the Imperials. "In the meantime, why don't I give you a tour of Cloud City? It's the least I can do."

"You always were a gentleman, Lando," Han replied, grinning. "Lead the way." Lando smiled back and proceeded to give the group a tour of Cloud City while the mechanics really were working on the _Falcon_. The Princess seemed really amazed with the city, and even Han had to admit he was impressed. Few cities anymore were anymore were as clean as Cloud City; some of the worst cities were the underworld of Coruscant and Nar Shaddaa in general. When Lando received the information that the _Falcon_ had been fixed with a message from the Imperials attached, he knew he had run out of time. Lando suggested maybe taking a break for lunch, and the group headed to the room Lando knew Vader and Fett were waiting in. About halfway there, Lando decided to try and tell Han what was going on. "Hey, Han, remember that one time Tharen pulled that trick on us and some of our other friends?" Lando said, hoping Han wouldn't blow the cover.

Han looked at him quizzically. "Yes. I remember," he replied unsurely, making up his mind to go along with what Lando was talking about. "What about it, Lando?"

Lando took a deep breath, hoping Han would understand. "Remember how you were coerced into taking that job or else the _Falcon_ would be sold off to Jabba's rival? And how we were forced into turn in Xaverri, who had been fighting against Jabba's rival?"

Han seemed to understand what Lando was trying to say and continued to play along it. "Right. We had been shipping all that stuff for the Republic, and we couldn't let the people who needed the equipment down. Plus we had that nasty bounty hunter after us. Am I wrong about that? I seem to remember Jabba's rival putting a huge bounty on me."

Lando nodded. "Yeah. It was sky-high, but none of us were going to get a cent of the bounty had we turned you in, not that we ever wanted to. But, as you may remember, necessity called for it. We got you out of that sticky situation in the end, though."

Han smiled halfheartedly, obviously understanding and accepting what Lando had said. Chewie looked at the two of them and asked when that had happened, before he essayed that the Empire had come to Cloud City before them and that Lando had no choice but to turn them in because of the City. They all knew of the Empire's reputation, and Chewie was grateful that Lando had explained himself and had tried to assure them that he would do everything he could to help them. Chewie also asked as to the Empire's motive.

Lando shrugged. "I didn't know what Jabba's rival's motive was, Chewie. Still don't, as a matter of fact. I think it had something to do with luring one of the others to us, though."

"Anyone I know, Han?" Leia piped in a little angrily. So the Princess had understood the conversation, too, and she was not very happy about it. "Or is this just another one of your old friends who happened to go into debt with 'Jabba's rival?'"

"I don't know. I think it had to do with someone else who worked for Jabba," Han replied truthfully to the point that he thought it was someone who was part of the Rebellion. A thought suddenly struck him as they neared the door to the lunch room. "Actually, maybe it was that hotshot pilot I told you about that Jabba's rival was so intent on acquiring."

Leia stared openmouthed at Han, knowing immediately whom he had been referring to. Lando was pretty sure that whomever they were talking about was someone that the Empire apparently wanted very badly. And Vader was using the others to get that guy. After glancing at Han, Lando opened the door to the room. Han, Leia, and Chewie, however, were genuinely surprised at Vader's presence. Han even took a few shots at the man with his blaster, but the Dark Lord deflected all of the blaster bolts. Fett was standing a little ways behind the Dark Lord, looking menacing. Lando then said to Han apologetically, "I'm sorry, friend. They got here before you did." Han grimaced in return, and Leia glared.

Vader, who had been standing at his seat patiently like he had rehearsed the scene, then took the time to say, "We would be honored if you joined us."

* * *

Luke had not been sleeping well for the past few days, and it was not just because Rogue Squadron had decided to stay on Dagobah for a while. He had been having nightmares recently, mostly about the city in the clouds he had seen some time in the past. the only difference between those visions and the ones he had been having was that what he was now seeing really was happening. Luke didn't know how he knew; he just did. The nightmares were violent, and the worst part was that he sometimes became ill himself after waking up. This was one of those times. 

As not to wake anyone around him up, Luke carefully stood up and walked a bit off. This time he had seen Leia going through an Imperial interrogation again, and the vision had made him wonder as to how much more of the torture not only they, but he too, could take. Usually, the cool night air would be enough to return him to good health, but that was apparently not to be the case tonight. A wave of pain shot through him, and he braced himself against a nearby tree. It happened again, and Luke collapsed onto the ground, unable to stand back up. _So they're not visions, are they?_ he realized as the generalized pain started to become more intense. _Leia's being interrogated right now, but why am I feeling it?_ Luke tried to focus on what the solution to that question could be when the pain got to a point that he doubled over and vomited. If he was feeling like that, then who knew what Leia was feeling like. _I can't let the Empire do this to her... or Han or Chewie_, he added as an afterthought, and soon as he had decided that, Luke sensed one of the Jedi coming.

Luke groaned. That was great. No sooner had he decided that he had to go save his friends from a Dark Lord of the Sith that said person's opposite number had to come and try to talk him out of it. He tried to sense who was coming and immediately regretted doing so: Master Skywalker was apparently the one who had been sent. _Why couldn't it have been Obi-Wan?_ Luke whined to himself. _I better say something. He'll think that there's something seriously wrong if I don't speak first._ When the Jedi Master was within a few yards, Luke said, "Master Skywalker, I'm fine. I just had a nightmare," which was more than Luke had intended to reveal to the theoretically esteemed member of the Jedi Council.

Even in the dark, Luke knew Anakin was frowning and didn't believe him. "No, you're not fine," Anakin replied as he closed the space between them. He went on to say, "You're radiating pain; anyone around here can feel it. Now, Luke, please tell me what's wrong."

"It---I---" Luke began, intending to concoct a story about how he had been wounded at Hoth or something like that, but he felt another sharp pain, shuddered, and decided that maybe it would be a better idea to tell the truth. "Master Skywalker, I---I wasn't lying when I said that I had a nightmare, but it---in it, I saw Han and Leia being tortured by the Imperials... I've been having these dreams for the past few days, and I can occasionally feel their pain." Shivering, he exclaimed, "I have to go save them! They will die if I don't!"

Anakin was dead serious by this point. "Luke, you cannot just leave to go wherever your friends are all by yourself." He paused, obviously tense about something Luke could not completely identify, but it felt like concern. "Do you know where they are, and who's holding them?" the Jedi Master finally asked. "And don't lie about it; I can tell."

_Well, it was a sunk cause anyway_, Luke reminded himself and answered the question, "Han and Leia are on a planet I think is called Bespin, on a city in the clouds. One of the Sith Lords is keeping them there. Master Skywalker, I know this sounds conceited, but I think he's trying to lure _me_ there. I don't know _why_, but that's the impression I get."

Anakin was silent for a few moments. "Luke, you feel pain when either one of your friends are tortured, right?" he asked, and Luke nodded in assent. "I was just wondering, which of the two is it more painful with? Your friend Solo or," Anakin paused for the briefest of moments like he was wondering what to say before finishing, "the Princess of Alderaan?"

Luke, still a little dazed, wondered why the Jedi Master would want to know that, but he replied to the question regardless. "I hadn't really thought about it before now, but it's a lot worse with Leia. I wake up when the Imperials are interrogating her, the pain is so bad."

Anakin grimaced and murmured, "That makes sense," causing Luke to wonder what was making sense. From his perspective, none of this made sense. Why did the Sith want to catch him? Why wouldn't Anakin let him try to save Han and Leia? Luke's thoughts were interrupted by Anakin looking back towards where everyone else was and saying, "Look, Luke, if you really want to go, I won't stop you. Just swear to me you won't do anything stupid like trying to fight the Dark Lord. Obi-Wan and I won't be able to help you this time."

Luke nodded and was about to reply when a different voice spoke up. "We won't be able to help him with what?" Obi-Wan demanded of Anakin, who was looking rather sheepish at the moment. "Don't tell me you were about to let him go off to Bespin!"

"Well, uh, I, um... yeah?" Anakin replied with the utmost amount of articulation possible. Now Luke was really confused. First Obi-Wan had no clue what Luke and Anakin had been talking about, and then he knew exactly what was going on. _Brilliant! Now I'm getting a headache on top of everything else! _Luke complained before realizing that he actually felt a little better now. In fact, he had started feeling better when Anakin had entered the scene. Maybe the Jedi Master had been suppressing his pain through the Force?

After Anakin's very informative comment, Obi-Wan and he started a debate in full force, and a few minutes of Anakin and Obi-Wan debating about whether they should let Luke leave (a debate in which Luke had no say) passed, and Anakin became sufficiently distracted as to forget that he had in fact been suppressing Luke and Leia's link in the Force to keep the effects that Leia was having due to the torture from affecting Luke as well. Brain scientist that Anakin was, he had still had a very easy time figuring out what was happening. Because of Anakin's lapse in memory and concentration, Luke's condition worsened again, and he steadily began to feel worse than he had before. That particular development went unnoticed by the two arguing Jedi Masters for at least a quarter of an hour before Luke, then very disoriented, told them, "Masters? I don't feel so good..." and passed out.

Both Anakin and Obi-Wan noticed that immediately, and Anakin knelt down and checked to see that Luke was all right, aside from the transferred ailments. "He has a fever," Anakin noted. He sighed then conceded the argument to Obi-Wan. "Fine. Maybe we should keep Luke here for a while, but we can't just leave Leia (and Solo) in the custody of Vader! And you know that there's a small chance that Luke's condition will only get worse."

Obi-Wan agreed, "You are right, too, but we cannot let him leave now." He paused while Anakin picked Luke up, and they started to walk back towards camp. "Anakin, you remember what was happened in the other reality. Do you really want Luke to go through that here, too? But what if things do go differently, and instead of events happening to advance our felicity, Luke falls to the Dark Side? Then you will probably have to kill him, or Leia will have to be trained to kill him, and I know you don't want that."

"That will not happen," Anakin replied adamantly. "Obi-Wan, you know that would not happen. Luke would never do that; he would die before he turned to the Dark Side!"

"That's part of my point, Anakin," Obi-Wan replied patiently. "How do we know that your other self would let him live this time? It is almost like he's been fixing everything which he did wrong in the other reality. Who knows if he would go as far to kill---"

Anakin shook his head and cut Obi-Wan off. "No. He would never do that, and you need to stop playing devil's advocate, Obi-Wan. I know you are on the verge of allowing him to leave, too! You're just starting to run out of material to try to find a reason to keep Luke here or make sure Rogue Squadron in its entirety goes back to the fleet. Furthermore, when and who do you suggest that we let go off and try to save Leia and Solo, if not Luke? If he gets better, and we've already sent a rescue mission, Luke will still insist that he leaves to assist that team. Basically, I don't want him to go, but I know I won't be able to stop him, so I just decided to give in and let him leave. When do you think we should let him leave?"

"Once he is sufficiently well," Obi-Wan admitted, "and preferably without the rest of the Council knowing. You know how ballistic Yoda and Mace will be when they find out."

"Yes," Anakin agreed as they reached camp where he set Luke down on his cot. After Anakin and Obi-Wan walked a ways off, Anakin glanced back at where Luke was lying and smiled wanly. "I just hope we're doing the right thing by letting him leave."

Obi-Wan adopted a similar expression and replied, "Me, too, Anakin. Me, too..."

* * *

Everything was going to plan, and Vader was quite enthused. Prolonged torture of the Princess of Alderaan had proven to be a quicker way to draw Luke to Bespin than a balance between Solo and Organa had in the past; he could sense the boy's urgency and want to save his friends. However, since Luke would be coming sooner, Solo had to be frozen in carbonite sooner. Vader momentarily thought about how Calrissian had attempted to explain himself to Solo, the Wookie, and the Princess this time. The Baron-Administrator had actually made a good argument, but the Princess had still been angry as she could be at the man. Solo was a little disappointed, but understood Calrissian's reasons, and the Wookie was okay with it all unless something bad happened to Solo, which it would. 

Vader decided to comm Piett and inform him that if any X-wings entered the system that they were to be allowed to land on Bespin. He then commed Calrissian to inform the gambler that the carbon-freezing chamber was to be made ready for human use. Of course, Calrissian was vexed by Vader's new way to torture Solo and tried to talk him out of it. "Try" was the operative word; Vader threatened to alter the arrangement more than it already had been changed, and Calrissian fell silent. Vader then started to make his way to the chamber. When he arrived, he decided to watch the mechanics modify everything. It took at least twice as long for Calrissian to bring Solo, the Wookie, and the Princess to the carbon freezing chamber than in the other reality. _What is with everyone here? It's like they don't understand the importance of expediency!_ Vader mentally grumbled.

Fett was standing off to the side and in the shadows again. Calrissian was very angry at Vader because of how he was having to treat his friends. The Princess was glaring at Vader, and Vader started to wonder why he still deserved the same level of animosity from her as her counterpart which thought he was pure evil. Was it just because of this? _How strange..._ Vader thought. The Wookie was standing next to Solo, also rather peeved at the Imperials is general. Solo, however, looked grim and apprehensive. Did he know of what Vader was planning? A realization struck Vader. _Jade just can't keep her mouth shut, can she? Dear Force, Palpatine should have just left her with the Rebels and the Jedi. She would have done less damage that way._ "Put Solo in the carbon freeze," Vader ordered.

Fett sneaked over. "What if he doesn't survive?" the ever-frugal bounty hunter demanded. "He's worth a lot of money to me; I have a reputation to keep."

Vader rolled his eyes and replied in his monotone, "The Empire will compensate you for your loss." On that note, the Princess started to protest, and the Wookie flipped out. Thankfully, Solo started to calm the enraged Wookie down before Vader had to order any of the harebrained stormtroopers into the fray.

"Chewie!" Solo exclaimed. "Save your strength for another day! You won't accomplish anything here and now. You have to protect the Princess for me, got it?"

Princess Leia was very distraught, and the scene that Vader had seen before replayed itself. "Han!" she cried out, and Solo turned around. They then kissed, and Vader felt like pushing Solo off a cliff and sending the girl to her room, of which the latter thought was odd. Nevertheless, when the two ceased to kiss, the Princess (again) exclaimed, "I love you!" to the annoying rapscallion of a smuggler (_Where did that come from?_).

Solo smiled enigmatically and replied, "I know," before Vader finally decided that he would be able to take no more of the romantic dialogue and motioned for the Ugnaughts to put Solo in the carbon freezing contraption. As Solo was being carbon frozen and the Princess was crying, Vader reflected on certain things. _Those two are almost as bad as that Senator and Jedi who shall remain anonymous!_ _Actually, _Vader amended, _Padmé and I were worse. Much worse._ He snapped out of his reverie when Solo's carbonite-encased form was examined by Calrissian, who reported that Solo was in perfect hibernation. Vader suddenly realized that he really hadn't had to test the machine since he already knew that it would work. Oh, well. At least Solo would be out of commission for a while. Darth turned to Fett. "You can take your reward now, bounty hunter." Vader turned toward the technicians and ordered, "Reset the chamber for Skywalker," before starting to turn and leave.

"My lord!" an aide reported. "An X-wing just landed; we are almost certain that it is Skywalker. Should we intercept him or just let him find you?"

Vader turned. That was a strange question to ask. Oh, well. He should answer it anyway and maybe promote the aide as well. _Captain of the _Executor_ sounds proper._ "Do not intercept him. See to it that he finds his way here, Aide...?" The aide then filled in the pause with his name, and Vader made a note of the young man's name before turning to face Calrissian. "Take the Princess and the Wookie to my ship."

"You said that they could stay here under my supervision!" Calrissian protested.

"I'm altering the bargain. Pray I don't alter it any further," Vader retorted and waited for the entire group to leave. The aide was the last one to leave, pausing only to look at the carbon-freezing machine before exiting the room. Vader ignored the anomaly in space-time and walked over to his predetermined spot to wait.

* * *

Everything felt wrong. It was almost as if there was a presence that was making Luke feel lightheaded. Then there was the huge maw of darkness somewhere in the bowels of the city, but that was less intriguing. He knew that one of the Dark Lords was here. All he had to do was avoid him. Luke continued to wander through the passages with Artoo following him. He thought it amazing that Master Skywalker had actually let him borrow the droid. Generally, the Jedi Master was paranoid about that sort of thing. Regardless, there they were. Luke turned around the bend in the corridor and the Force sent him a warning, so he hit to the deck immediately, barely dodging a blast from none other than Boba Fett. Luke scrambled back around the corridor. He didn't need to incur the wrath of the best bounty hunter in the galaxy in addition to all of the Empire. Unsure of whether Fett was coming after him anyway, Luke glanced around the corner and saw that Fett was gone. 

Relieved, Luke did an about turn and went back the way he came until he reached the hallway that he had not gone down. Luke followed the pathway to an antechamber, and in the hallway that was tangent to the opposite side of the antechamber was a group of Imperials leading Chewie and Leia somewhere. There was someone else who had a cape, and Luke decided that that person was most likely the person in charge of the city. _Time to save Leia._ Luke had still not been noticed by the troops, and he drew his blaster. "Leia!" he shouted. "Get down!" He fired a few shots at the Imperials and hit a few before they started to return fire. One of the Imperials was dragging a struggling Leia off.

"Luke! Don't!" she exclaimed, clinging to the side of the wall. "It's a trap!" After almost being dragged out of sight, Leia exclaimed "It's a trap!" again before she and the Imperials disappeared. Luke ran after her, but to no avail. They group had already turned the corner in the hallway and he had no clue which way they had gone; the dampening feeling in the Force was a lot stronger. Luke turned around and ran straight into an Imperial officer, causing both of them to fall over. The officer regained his senses before Luke and confiscated the blaster Luke had with him. Luckily, Artoo seemed to have disappeared. Hopefully, he had gone after Leia. The Imperial leveled the blaster at Luke. He seemed to be a little disoriented as well. "What are you doing here?" the Imperial demanded, surprised.

"Trying to save my friends, what does it look like!" Luke shouted back. "Force, are all of you thick or something? I could swear that all you are worse shots than Teneniel!"

A strange look crossed the Imperial's face for a millisecond before he shook his head and handed the weapon back over to Luke. "Get out of here as fast as you can. Trust me, you don't want to fight Vader. He's deadly without a weapon and more deadly with one."

Luke stared warily at the officer. Why was an Imperial helping him, a Rebel? It made no sense. "What do you mean? Why should I leave? I need to save my friends!"

"They can save themselves, Skywalker," the officer replied softly, deciding that it was useless to even try to talk him out of facing Vader. "You're the one that will need saving," he warned before walking off after the rest of the Imperials. Luke didn't even bother to heed the officer's advice. In fact, he decided to do the exact opposite. The officer had told him that it was impossible to live after an encounter with Vader, so he had to prove the man wrong. Besides, Vader had crossed the line when he had used Luke's friends as bait.

Luke walked the opposite direction that the officer took toward the room that the officer had come from. When Luke stepped inside the room, the door slammed down behind him, automatically locking. Luke took a deep breath, knowing that there was no turning back. The room he was in was almost pitch black, and the only illumination was from the lights of various machines and a circular hole in the ceiling. Luke stepped toward the light and onto a part of the floor which was different than the others. Before he could register what it was, that part of the floor started to move upward and took Luke to the upper level of the room. There was some sort of gas floating around, making the room look like it was filled with fog. Luke looked around and noticed that his connection with the Force was back to normal before noticing that he felt a huge dark presence behind him and off to the side of the room. He took a deep breath and unhooked his lightsaber before walking over to find and face the fearsome Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader.

Vader stood at the top of the staircase with lightsaber drawn, waiting for him, and Luke started to think that maybe this was a bad idea. That officer had seemed sincere, after all, but as he had thought seconds before, there was no turning back. Luke started to climb the stairs, and Vader said, "The Force may be with you, Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet." The words sent a chill coursing up Luke's spine, but he ignored it and focused on the matter at hand. At the top of the stairs, Luke drew his lightsaber and ignited it.

The Dark Lord was just waiting for him to attack, and Luke knew that defense was sometimes the best offense. This was one of those times. However, they were just staring at each other, and Vader was not going to be making the first move, and Luke was starting to become impatient, so he attacked. Vader easily blocked the attack, and Luke kept striking at the Sith, but the Dark Lord met every single blow. It was starting to become frustrating.

"You have learned more than I had anticipated, young Skywalker," Vader said conversationally while parrying yet another of Luke's attacks and finally going offensive.

"You'll find I'm full of surprises," Luke replied automatically as he was trying to fend off the sudden change of strategy by Vader. He was not sure how much more fighting he would be able to take. Vader was very powerful both physically and in the Force. As Vader's onslaught continued, Luke noticed that he was being driven towards the stairs and made a note to himself. However, he forgot a few seconds later and fell down the stairs, inadvertently dropping his lightsaber, while Vader calmly walked down. The Dark Lord advanced, and Luke tried to back away with little success. Then the Sith spoke again. "Your future is with the Empire and the Dark Side, Skywalker. There is no escaping your fate."

Luke had stood up and was backing up when Vader suddenly lunged at him. Luke jumped backwards to avoid it, but where there should have been floor was some sort of hole in the ground. As he tried to figure out what was going on, he heard Vader say "All too easy," and decided that maybe it was not the best idea to stay down in the hole, so Luke jumped up just as the machine (_Whatever's down there,_ he thought) turned on and started spewing a fog-like gas. Vader noticed immediately, and the two combatants resumed the fight as soon as Luke retrieved his lightsaber and jumped back down to the platform.

The battle began again in full force. Luke would attack, Vader would parry and counterattack, Luke would then block the counterattack, and the whole situation would repeat. After a good number of exchanged blows in a short amount of time, Luke finally started to push Vader back, and Vader started to try and goad Luke into anger. Luke responded by attacking more furiously than he had before, actually listening to the Dark Lord. He didn't know why, but there was some force trying to keep him on a certain path. The Force definitely was not behind the situation; it was something less concrete, more abstract. _Sort of like..._ "Fate," he murmured. But why would fate want him to fight some Dark Lord and say certain things? Everything started to seem like a bad dream he could not wake from.

Vader lost his balance and fell down to the lower levels of the room. Relieved for a break in the duel, Luke stayed on the higher level for a few moments to catch his breath. He glanced back toward the lift which had brought him into this room and debated with himself whether he should try to flee or stay and fight. Luke looked down into the dark lower levels where he knew Vader was waiting. The Sith would not have allowed the door to remain unlocked if he had laid this trap for Luke. The Empire wanted him, and Luke did not want to know why, but he descended the stairs regardless.

After wandering around the halls looking for Vader with ever door he passed through closing instantly behind him, Luke reached a dark room which had a window overlooking the core of the city. There, he heard Vader's incessant heavy breathing and turned to face the Sith. They circled, and Vader suddenly stopped when Luke had his back to the window. Luke sensed something strange was going on, and his feeling proved to be correct when Vader started throwing miscellaneous pieces of machinery at him. Luke was able to block most of them with his lightsaber and deflect a few more with the Force, but some still got through and hit him. Normally, that would not have been a problem, but the speed at which the heavy metal was hitting him made the machinery have quite a bit of momentum. Luke stole a glance at the window, afraid that one of the items would break the glass, and was hit with another large miscellaneous apparatus which ricocheted off of him and went through the window. Vader calmly stood his ground as the room pressure equalized, but Luke had been hit by a object, which had not been able to stay its ground against the winds, and was knocked out of the room through the window.

Luckily, Luke had been able to grab hold of the guard rail of one of the gantries some distance below the room. He scrambled up onto the walkway and decided to just lay there for a minute or two before searching for Vader again. _That Imperial was right_, Luke admitted to himself. _I shouldn't have challenged Vader... _Luke stood up and walked towards the reactor which the gantry was attached to, but did not make it that far. Vader, somehow, had already made it down to the level and was advancing towards Luke. _I'm so dead..._

As he came closer and Luke slowly backed away, Vader declared, "You are beaten. It is useless to resist." Luke almost believed him. No, he did believe the Dark Lord. He knew he was not going to make it out of the fight unscathed. Vader took the moment Luke was using to be introspective to attack. Luke was barely able to deflect the attack, let alone counter attack, and he also knew with a fearful certainty that there was not much gantry left to retreat on. A new rush of adrenaline kicked in when there was only three meters left, and Luke actually managed to score a hit on Vader, albeit on the Sith's shoulder.

Now Vader was angry. Luke did all he could to keep the Sith's blows from landing on him, but then Vader cut through a large part of the railing. While Luke turned involuntarily turned to look at it, Vader struck once again, and Luke was barely able to parry the attack, but his arm was momentarily knocked back and almost lost grip on the lightsaber. Luke only realized that the singular moment was an opening for Vader to disarm him came a second too late, and then Luke understood where that saying could have possibly come from. He could only stare in horror at the space where his hand used to be in complete shock. The pain set in a second later, and Luke tried to get as far away from Vader as possible. He felt something against his back and realized that he was at the end of the line. "No..."

Vader stood like an ominous spectre, almost like Death itself, and he knew and could feel how hurt and afraid the young man in front of him was. Well, he had to start the speech that would in all likelihood would wreak havoc on the boy's beliefs. "There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you. Join me and we could be more powerful than the Emperor."

Luke, in almost unbearable pain, was still lucid enough to yell, "I'll never join you!"

"If you only knew the power of the Dark Side," Vader said, shaking his head. He continued, hoping that Luke did not know who his father was. All signs pointed to no, from what he knew from Jade. "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father, did he?"

Luke jumped to incorrect conclusions and stared at Vader, stunned. "You killed him."

"No. I am your father," he replied very placidly. Vader's work here was done. Now all that remained was for Luke to jump off the gantry and escape in the _Falcon_. It was the first good thing that had happened all day. However, Padmé was going to be furious, but he couldn't please everyone. Besides, it was the idiot Jedi's fault. Why couldn't his other self not keep this certain truth a secret? Everything was so strange here.

Luke, on the other hand, was now completely in a daze. _Vader_ was his _father_? How did that happen? _It's just a lie_, Luke told himself. _It can't be true. How could... How! _"No!" he screamed. "No! It can't be true! It just can't be!" Luke exclaimed, in denial.

Vader realized it was his line. Now what had he said? Ah, yes. "Search your feelings. You know it to be true," he replied. Yes. That sounded like it was word for word.

Luke had backed up further, onto the part of the outcropping past the walkway in a vain attempt to get away. He shook his head, trying to control his emotions. "That's impossible!" he shouted at Vader._ It just can't be true!_

Vader extended his hand and recited the rest of his dialogue which he had said before. "Luke, join me and together we can end this destructive conflict. We can destroy the Emperor and rule the galaxy as father and son. Come with me; it is the only way."

Luke looked down towards the seemingly bottomless abyss. It looked awfully inviting at the moment. He looked back up at Vader and made his decision. "No," Luke said very plainly and let himself fall down to wherever he was going to end up.

Vader watched Luke fall from the gantry. Some things never did change. Vader turned around and walked back up to an area where he would be able to access the landing platforms. It would only be a short way from the shuttle to the _Executor_, but Vader suddenly wished he was back on Endor. Back there? Why? It was not home. Was it?

* * *

Leia and the others had barely escaped from Cloud City. Sure, they could have gotten to the _Falcon_ in half of the time, but there had still been a chance to save Han. Currently, Leia was attempting to out fly the TIEs in pursuit while Lando tried to find out what was wrong with the hyperdrive. He knew the mechanics had fixed it, but the engine had been deactivated, according to Artoo. Leia was surprised that the little droid had found them, but it did make some sense. The droid had obviously come with Luke, probably at the behest of her father. Leia managed to make the _Falcon_ avoid another TIE wing's assault and wondered whether Luke had been able to escape from Bespin, too. _He can't have been---_ Leia shook off the rest of the thought. Luke was fine. He had to be. He had listened to her warning and hightailed it out of there. But she knew she was just fooling herself. She knew her friend too well to seriously think that he would just turn away from that fight. 

Leia sat in silence and contemplated about whether she should turn back or not. The Empire was obviously waiting for the _Falcon_ to try and escape. The Imperials were the ones that had deactivated the hyperdrive, so it was just a matter of time for them. Leia made her decision. She was going to tell the others that they were going back, but would they listen? Yes, Chewie would turn back for Luke. The droids... maybe Threepio was better off not knowing that they were going back into the danger zone. Lando might protest, but Leia knew she could convince him, and if not Leia, then Chewie could present the case.

When Leia was about to inform the others they were turning back, she suddenly heard a voice in her head. _/Leia.../_ She looked around. Was she imagining things? No. She couldn't be. She knew she heard it. _/Leia, help. Please.../_ Leia gasped, "Luke."

Chewie growled a query as to what was going on. Lando joined them in the cockpit.

"We have to go back," Leia replied. "I know where Luke is; we have to go back."

Chewie asked where Luke was, and Leia searched her mind. _Where? It felt like---_Leia realized that they had communicated through the Force. That made perfect sense. Why hadn't she realized that sooner? Regardless, Leia concentrated, trying to find out exactly where her friend was. "He's at the bottom of the city," she finally replied.

"Wait a second, Princess," Lando objected. "If you haven't noticed, there are still tons of fighters following us." Chewie growled threateningly, and Lando acquiesced.

It took about two minutes to return to the city and another three for Leia to locate Luke, who she was surprised to learn was clinging to a weather vane on the bottom of the city. _No wonder he sounded like he did_, Leia noted to herself. She and Chewie eased the _Falcon _under Luke. Lando told them it was okay to leave, and Leia left the flying to Chewie when they were sufficiently out of danger and ran to that part of the ship. She skidded to a halt when she found Lando, who was making his way to the cockpit. "What's happened?"

Lando grimaced and replied, "Luke's all right for the time being, but the next stop of this ship is a medical facility." Lando was about to continue, but decided that it would be better if the Princess did not hear the news from him. "You should go see him."

Leia blanched and rushed to the room which Lando directed her to. Luke was lying on the cot in the room in a rather terrible condition. She walked over to his side and put on a brave face. One of the first things she noticed was how beat up he looked. The second was that he was missing his right hand. Leia was stunned, but what had she expected? He had faced a Dark Lord of the Sith. Neither of them said anything for a few moments. Leia spoke first. "We're going to get out of here as soon as we can, Luke. Everything's going to be all right." Luke nodded absentmindedly, and Leia did not really believe her own words. Since the conversation was not going so well, Leia decided to just tend to his wounds as best she could. When she was halfway finished cleaning up the cuts on his face, Lando and Chewie paged her over the comm. The hyperdrive still was not working. Leia turned to Luke and smiled. "I'll be right back," she promised and left to go pilot while Lando and Chewie tried to fix whatever was wrong with the ship.

Luke watched her leave and wondered how he was going to be able to talk to her now, but it was not just her. How would the Rebellion react? He was the son of one of their most dreaded enemies. How he wished that it was not true, but Luke knew that it was: his father was undoubtedly Vader. _Why didn't the Jedi tell me anything? Why didn't Obi-Wan say anything? Why didn't Master Skywalker tell me anything...?_ Luke dismissed the thoughts. He was not going to get an answer from the Jedi, even though he probably could, but there was a remote chance that they did not know either, and that was the thought that scared Luke. What would _they_ do to him? The Sith either wanted him on their side or dead, and the Jedi just wanted him on their side, and maybe dead, assuming they did not know about Vader. Somehow, Luke doubted that conspiracy theory as well. The Jedi knew. They had to because they acted like they knew.

Luke looked down at his hand---where his hand had been. He had to get away from everything. If Vader or anyone else in the Empire caught him, then who knows what would happen; he might have to eventually fight his friends. Luke stood up and made his way to the cockpit of the _Falcon_. Leia was piloting, and Luke sat down in the seat behind her. "Leia? Why aren't we in hyperspace yet?" he asked, becoming increasingly nervous.

Continuing to do evasive maneuvers, Leia explained, "Artoo found out that the hyperdrive's been deactivated, and Lando and Chewie are trying to fix it." She paused before asking, "Are you all right? I mean... Are you sure you're all right to be up?"

Luke nodded. "My arm doesn't hurt that much anymore," he lied. If anything, it hurt more, but that was only until the painkillers kicked in. Luke wished that would happen sooner than later. "And besides, I'm not that badly hurt. Well, aside from..."

"Yes," Leia said, not wishing to go over the subject again and knowing Luke certainly was not in the mood for talking about it either. Lando rushed into the cockpit at that point. Leia turned around and addressed Lando, "You and Chewie fixed the hyperdrive?"

Lando shook his head. "No, believe it or not, Artoo did. That is one smart little droid." Lando grinned and said, "Time to test the hyperdrive." Leia set in the coordinates, and Lando activated the engine, which actually worked. Leia breathed a sigh of relief. They had escaped from the _Executor_. She thanked the Force and all the luck in the universe. Now they were on their way to the rendez-vous with the rest of the Rebel fleet, and maybe even that much closer to saving Han from wherever. Luke would be treated, and life would return to what was near normalcy. Leia could only hope that the Empire strikes back against the Alliance would cause the Jedi to help more. Currently, however, that hope was enough.

* * *

_I hope you give me comments about this chapter, like whether it was just too long and I should split the next one up or about certain plot twists or miscellaneous conspiracy theories (I love lsitening/reading to those). It's okay if you don't be I would appreciate constructive criticism. Regardless of all that, __I give thanks to everyone who has favorited or watched this story, and now for my responses to the reviews:_

_**random-idiot-v2**: Yaye! A returning reader! I'm glad you loved "Fixing A Hole" and decided to read the sequel. I hope you like this as (or near as) much as FAH, and thanks so much for all of the reviews! (P.S. I agree; chapter seven is great. It was so fun to write.)_

_**Jas-TheMaddTexan**: Ah, school. How I loathe yet love it. Thanks for the review and sorry I took so long to update!_

_**JadeAlmasy**: Thanks for the reveiw!_

_**SuperBlonde**: AH! I love your long reviews! They're so fun to read! I thought the Maul going to Six Flags thing was hilarious (maybe I'll use that later...)! Vader is becoming a intreiguing character, isn't he? I couldn't help putting the Bespin scene in here. It wouldn't be ESB without it. Oh, and about when he's from: as you can probably tell from this chapter, Vader has no clue who Leia is. I'm not saying exactly when he's from, but he's not dead yet (see Endor comment). The Anakin as secretary thing just happened. I can't remember how it came about, and originally, the person whom Anakin was supposed to talk to was Vader, but it just didn't work, so I cut it out and put Thrawn there instead. Unfortunately, Palpatine still has some time left in this world/galaxy/whatever, and I'm going to blame the bickering within the Rebellion, Jedi Order, and Empire of who gets to kill him on the delay for the moment. He will die by the end of the story, I promise you that. He might even get killed twice. You never know. On the topic of Anakin and the Rogues: they have not plotted as of yet, but it will happen (possibly over how to kill Xizor for certain things having to do with Leia). Finally, Jello and revenge are probably best together. Maybe I'll have those deceased at the end of the story who are on the good side eating it and laughing at the dead bad guys. I think it would be funny. I mean, picture Vader eating Jello! And... thanks for reviewing!_

_**Niraha Skywalker**: Sorry I took so long! Thanks for thinking the chapter was awesome and for writing me the review!_

_Thanks again to everyone who reads this, no matter whether you have this watched or favorited or reveiw it. I'm just glad that people actually like what I write, and I thank you._


	10. Watch That Man and Some Rescue

_Hey, everyone! Long time, no see, eh? No excuses are to be offerred this time. I have had this ready for about two or three weeks, but was unsure if I should post it or not (because my plan for this chapter was longer). In the end, I left it at its current length, so I apologize for the unnecessary delay. Anyway, I have a few notes about this chapter that I need to mention: 1) The only two characters who are part of the action in this chapter not part of the SW cannon are Valerie and Messandra, even though a good number of other characters look like they are not. If you think about the clues I left in the text, you should probably be able to identify whom the others are. 2) Any language that sounds like it's out of a Shakespearian play is due to the fact that I wrote this while I was studying Macbeth. 3) This chapter is about 30 pages long. If necessary, read this in multiple sittings. Unless, of course, you have oodles of free time, unline me. 4) I would really like some feedback about how I did with the scene centering completely on the new captain of the Executor, especially on the, for lack of a better word, gooier parts (warning/translation: romantic stuff ahoy, but only in that section).5) There are three chapters left. 6) A number of conversations, aliases, and lines are influenced by british literature, certain other movies, and my new obsession with Wonder Woman. Read at your own risk. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, but don't expect an update for a while (Robotics season has begun). Thanks to all the reviewers, and again, I hope you like this installment of AtSM! _

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* * *

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As Vader watched the Millennium Falcon escape from the Executor, he noticed that the newly promoted Captain was smiling slightly, as if he was glad that the Rebels has escaped. Vader grimaced when he remembered the conversation which had taken place on the shuttle back up to the _Executor_. The captain had made an offhand comment that the Rebels seemed smart enough to get away safely. Apparently the man had made some sort of bet or something. Vader didn't care. The man had at least half a brain, which was a lot more than could be said of many other Imperial officers. _Well, either that, or he's Force-sensitive_, Vader admitted before checking to see if the captain was a Jedi. As far as he could tell, the captain was just smart. That was great news. Now the fleet had a competent admiral (Piett) and the flagship had a decent captain (Vader's former aide). 

Aside from all of the benefits of having knowledge of the future, Vader was still rather rankled that the _Millennium Falcon_ had still managed to escape the _Executor_. The worse part was that he only had himself to blame. Maybe if he had brought a interdictor cruiser along, then the flying scrap heap would not have escaped. Vader did recognize that that was only wishful thinking. It was probably a good thing that Vader had not captured Luke. Then he would have had to take the boy back to Coruscant to have an audience with the Emperor. Vader did not want to go through the conversation he knew would have taken place. Vader looked down at the floor and then out the window one last time. He turned around and walked off of the bridge. As he exited the room, Vader overheard the captain commenting nonchalantly to one of his aides about how a number of the bridge crew lost a certain bet.

* * *

In the _Millennium Falcon_, Luke sat in one of the chairs in the cockpit. Everyone had long vacated the room. In fact, the others were asleep and the droids were powered down. Luke couldn't remember how long he had been sitting there, staring out into the ether. Time passed so slowly when you were berating yourself for crimes you had not committed. Luke glanced at the chronometer. It was just a little past three in the morning. That meant he had been sitting still for about seven hours. Leia was going to yell at him in the morning for staying up all night, but Luke didn't particularly care. When he told her about his father, Leia would probably blow a gasket, at best. Luke shook his head. No, Leia wouldn't do that. She would be surprised, but she wasn't the type of person to judge someone like that. Luke sighed. The Rebellion probably would not let him off as easily. 

Luke turned back to stare at hyperspace when the door opened and Leia walked in. She looked like she was sleepwalking or something close to it. She yawned and sat down in the chair opposite Luke. Leia stared at him, trying to figure out what was wrong. She knew Luke had a right to be upset, anyone would if they had been maimed, but she knew there was something else wrong. Leia could not explain how, but she just had a feeling that Luke was not only in a deep depression but that he was hiding something as well. Recollecting herself, Leia started to ask him about what happened. He probably would talk in time, but they were fighting a war, for Force's sake, and the Rebellion could not have one of their officers in such a melancholy and unstable condition. "Luke?" she hazarded.

Luke didn't reply for a moment, and when he did, he just kept staring out into space. "I thought you were asleep," he stated, definitely trying to hide an emotion. Now Leia was all the more determined to find out what was going on. Luke was not getting off that easily.

"Luke, please tell me what happened," Leia begged him. "You can trust me. If you keep whatever it is a secret, then whatever's wrong will just become worse over time." She waited for him to say something, anything, but he did not. "Luke, please. I can tell. Don't try to pretend that you are perfectly fine. Anyone could tell you are not."

Luke stared down at the floor for a moment then turned to face Leia. He grimaced. "I cannot tell you," he murmured despondently. The two just stared at each other, not conceding to the other's point of view until Luke finally broke down. It was all too much for him to take. Leia could not take just sitting around, watching her best friend crying and in such a sorry state. She moved closer and hugged him. "It'll be all right, you'll see," Leia whispered, trying to calm Luke down. "Everything will get better. I promise."

* * *

Boba Fett thought about what to do now that he had captured Solo. It was almost like he had nothing else to do. He could take the worthless smuggler back to Jabba, but the giant slug would probably not pay him a good reward for the irritating smuggler. Of course, he could try to sell the block of carbonite off as a piece of art made by the second-in-command of the Empire. Boba set the coordinates for Coruscant; he other business there. Apparently the Black Sun needed him for something. It did not particularly matter to Boba. He was too puzzled about what to do with Solo. Killing the man outright would not be all that satisfying. Maybe the "art" way was the way to go. Boba glanced back at the carbonite. _Damn, that Han-sicle is going to drive me mad..._

* * *

Xizor sat in his office in his castle on Coruscant, staring out the window. He checked the time and saw that the bounty hunter Fett would not be arriving for some time longer. No matter. Fett was only a small part of his plan. The bounty hunter was undoubtedly the best in the galaxy, but Xizor doubted that even he could catch the boy Skywalker. Xizor was particularly fond of playing over the scene which would occur once Skywalker was in his custody. Vader's spawn would pay for the destruction of Xizor's castle, even if it was in a different reality. Vader would pay, too. Then Xizor would go about killing the other Skywalker, the General from the Clone Wars. That man was just as, if not more, annoying than the other two with the same last name. A Jedi, too. It would be fun when Xizor hunted down and killed that one. That Jedi had been disrupting the Black Sun's activities ceaselessly since Xizor had come into power, and it was starting to become tiring. When all of that business was finished, Xizor was going to go after Princess Leia. 

Leia. The Princess of Alderaan. Xizor had still not given up on her, and he now had a second chance to try to seduce the girl. Maybe she would be more receptive this time. Of course, Xizor had to factor in all of the other annoyances. By the time the Skywalkers were dead, who knew what the state of the galaxy would be. Xizor then realized by that time, he might be dead as well. Such was the way with wars; no one could predict what would happen. _Except, of course, the Emperor_, Xizor added to himself. Yet another person in his way on the path of power. Xizor conceded to himself that he would have to run his plans concurrently yet again. What a pain. He opened his calendar on his personal computer and made a note that he had to plan an assassination in a few days earlier than planned so he could devote the rest of his free time to his hobbies.

As Xizor was changing his schedule, Guri walked into the room. "My Prince, you told me to inform you whenever Lord Vader was to come back on planet," she stated. Xizor waited for her to continue. Guri would have sent a message if something that relatively unimportant happened. "He demanded a meeting with you as soon as possible, but the Emperor heard of this and decided that it would be best if you and Vader were to meet when you were supposed to have reported to the Emperor tomorrow."

"The discussion is to be in the Emperor's presence, yes?" Xizor surmised. Guri nodded curtly, and Xizor smiled coldly. "All the better. Vader will not be allowed to make any veiled death threats this time. He would not dare with the Emperor watching."

Guri shifted her stance. "My Prince," she started. "I must not have been completely clear. When I said that you would be meeting with Vader at the same time as the Emperor, I meant that the meeting with the Emperor would go as planned. The rest of the Dark Lords will be present as well, and you still have to prepare your presentation on the current venture you are trying to sell on them. It will now be much harder with Vader present."

Xizor waved Guri off. "Those fools do not matter, and Palpatine will listen to my scheme and agree with it, like he did before, no matter what Vader says," he asserted. "Seriously, my dear, do you really think that any of the other Sith would try and block my plan? They would agree with it wholeheartedly. At least, Dooku would. He seems like the intelligent type. Whatever he does, Ventress copies, and Maul does not count. As you know, he has not quite been himself since he discovered the vending machine."

Guri allowed herself a small smile at that comment. "Yes, my lord. I was not thinking properly. In the other category of information you wish for me to sort through, it has come to the attention of some of your spies that Vader dueled a Jedi on Bespin, and---"

Xizor sighed in affected exasperation. "Yes, Guri, I know this already. Vader dueled Skywalker. Skywalker lost the duel and his hand. Princess Organa and her friends spirited the boy away, and are currently in parts unknown. If there is anything else, say so now."

"Prince Xizor, I was only providing a context for the situation," Guri defended herself before continuing, "Before the battle, Vader's personal aide warned Skywalker away from the Dark Lord. All of the information points to Vader having some knowledge of the incident or at least noticing the aide's strange behavior. Signs, however, also point to the aide being a Jedi, light or dark. It is nothing more than an unsubstantiated rumor, but something which should be heeded. The man may be a Jedi spy, or an agent of the Emperor."

Xizor had been listening intently to Guri's report. The whole situation was rather odd and slightly disturbing. One of Vader's aides showed a propensity towards rational thinking and possibly the Force? Why was the man not dead yet? "Vader would never let anyone who would entertain the thought of betraying the Emperor live if he met one in person," Xizor puzzled out loud. He added, "Unless, of course, said person was useful to the Emperor at the time. Therefore, I think your surmise is correct, Guri. This aide must be an Imperial agent sent by the Emperor to keep Vader on track."

Guri nodded in agreement. "It is the only feasible explanation at this time," she added. She then placed a number of documents and files on Xizor's desk. "This is all of the information you requested for the meeting today with Mr. Fett and your potential investors for Xizor Transport Systems." She pointed to which files corresponded with which. "And finally, the information which the Emperor expects you to know for the meeting tomorrow."

Xizor nodded, not really caring. He had already rehearsed his forthcoming speech to Fett about the job he wished to have done. The investors were really worth nothing at all. Xizor already had a huge amount of money. The money he could hope to gain from the investors would be tantamount to a grain of sand being added to an ocean floor. And with the meeting concerning the Emperor, Xizor knew more than he needed. Regardless, Guri did have to be kept busy. Xizor dismissed the human-like droid after giving her assignments to assassinate certain rivals of the Black Sun and XTS as well as gathering more information on certain persons who were hopefully soon to be dead. Xizor turned to look out the window of his office once more. If he played his cards right, maybe he would be the ruler of the galaxy sooner than later . . .

* * *

When the _Millennium Falcon_ arrived at the Rebellion's rendezvous point, the ship was immediately swamped with an overabundance of messages from friends, specifically one message from each of the Rogues every three minutes (thirty seconds in Wes' case). As Leia read the message box, she suddenly wished she had also mentioned in her call ahead to the base that the fewest number of people possible were to be informed of their arrival. Apparently she had neglected to remember the resourcefulness of Rogue Squadron whenever she or Luke were in jeopardy. The same did go for Han, but Leia was trying not to think of the smuggler. She shut down the terminal in the common room and walked to the door to the room Luke had decided to lock himself in for the duration of the trip. She knocked on the door. "Luke? Are you awake?" she asked. "We're with the fleet." 

She heard him groan and guessed that he already knew and was just trying to avoid human contact like he had for the past few days. That was until he opened the door a minute later. Leia smiled. From the look of him, Leia realized that Luke really had been sleeping for the past few days. Luke was still dressed in his fatigues with his right arm in the sling Leia had made days ago. "We're at the rendez-vous point already?" he asked, still half-asleep.

Leia nodded. "The Rogues demand an update, Commander," she said mock-seriously, trying to keep the mood somewhat light. She still remembered the mood Luke had been in the first day. Hopefully he had improved somewhat. Leia had started to fall into bad moods whenever she had passed the cabin in the last few days, but she did not hold Luke responsible for what had happened to Han, so Leia had concluded that the Force was playing tricks on her. She did wonder why it was only happening to her, however.

Luke managed a smile. "I take it Wes has been demanded to know where I've been this past week?" he guessed, trying not to upset Leia. He had noticed, after all, the moods she had been in of late. "Or is Tycho berating me for running off somewhere?"

"Both of them are doing that," Leia admitted. "You did forget Corran yelling at you for not taking him along, and Wedge wondering if you were all right. Hobbie, on the other hand, has made a request for a new X-wing. Apparently he trashed another one."

Luke snapped back into Commander-mode gladly; he was able to keep his mind off of more disturbing matters. Like Vader. He replied after a moment, "Leia? Could you tell Wes to wait a while for me? And tell Hobbie he needs to go through someone else for the fighter? I'd write to them myself, but . . ." He let the sentence trail off; neither finished it.

Leia nodded. "Of course." She was about to walk off, but she stopped herself. "Luke---I'm sorry. For reminding you of---" Leia searched for a phrase to say. "---the duel." Luke was about to stop her from apologizing for what he considered to be his fault, but Leia cut him off before he could speak a word. "I just want you to know that I don't blame you." Luke visibly stiffened, not wanting to remember, and Leia continued. "I did not blame you before now, either, so please stop blaming yourself for everything that's happened? Luke, you're only going to hurt yourself more if you keep acting like this!" As soon as she said the sentence, she regretted it. The pain that had returned in Luke's eyes was more than enough to convince her she had depressed him again. Little did she know that he was imagining how she would react if he actually told her what had happened. "Oh Force!" Leia exclaimed, voicing her anger at herself. "Luke, I'm sorry---" she began to apologize.

"Don't, Leia," Luke murmured. "Just---don't. I know you're right, but---" He halted himself for a moment. "Like I told you before, I can't---no, I'm not ready to tell you. Leia, I swear I'll be fine. I just need some time," he reassured her. "And, what you said to me goes double for you. Stop blaming yourself. _This is not your fault_," Luke said. He then promised, "When I'm---when we're both feeling better, I swear I'll help you as much as I possibly can to find Han." He smiled sadly. "You have my word, Princess."

Leia returned the smile and replied, "Thank you." There was a rather awkward silence following Leia's thanks, which was broken by Threepio walking into the hall to inform the two that the _Falcon_ had just landed. Luke and Leia glanced at each other before walking to the exit of the ship. Lando and Chewie were busy shutting the ship down, so Lando told the other two to not wait for them. Leia gave him a curt nod, and Lando went back to the cockpit.

As soon as Luke and Leia stepped out of the _Falcon_, a whole squad of medics swarmed over Luke while a good number of Rebel diplomats immediately went to Leia for a comment on what had taken her so long to return to the fleet. Rogue Squadron was shortly behind the other two groups in arriving, but by then the medics had already whisked Luke off to sick bay. Therefore, a couple of the guys in the squadron waited for the crowd surrounding Leia to disperse in order to get her attention to find out what was happening.

Leia had shooed the diplomats away a few minutes after Lando and Chewie exited the _Falcon_ and went off to talk to the deck officer. The Princess sighed in relief that she did not have to be debriefed until later. Then she saw the Rogues. Leia somehow knew that Wes was about to interrogate her on what had happened, and cut him off before he could start his near-endless stream of questions. "Could we go somewhere else to discuss what's happened?" she asked. "I don't want the entire Rebellion to know everything yet."

Wedge looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean, Leia?" he asked. She waved him off in a manner that implied that she would tell them when they were somewhere a little more discreet. Therefore, Tycho decided it would be a good idea to go to Rogue Squadron's break room. When they arrived, it was empty, but that was only because it was currently time for lunch. "What's happened?" Wedge asked once Tycho shut the door.

Leia shook her head. "Way too much," she replied. Wes, Wedge, Hobbie, and Tycho exchanged glances, and Leia continued. "As you probably noticed, Han did not come back with us, Luke's injured, and Lando, one of Han's friends, came with us."

"What happened to Solo?" Tycho asked, somewhat worried. Sure, he did not particularly think that Han was worthy of Princess Leia, but the smuggler was his friend, although they did not agree on everything. Truthfully, they rarely agreed on anything.

Leia took a deep breath, bracing herself for the answer she had to give. "Han---along with Chewie and I--- was captured by the Empire, specifically Vader. That _monster_ had set up some sort of trap for Luke, and we were the bait," Leia recalled, injecting sarcasm and hate into her description. The Imperials tortured us, but that was nothing. Then Vader decided to conduct a little science experiment with the carbon freezing chamber."

"Wait just a second," Wes interjected. "Are you saying that Vader had Han frozen in carbonite! That's insane! Didn't Vader know that odds of whether a living being can survive carbon freeze?" He paused a second. "Vader did want the freezing to go well, right?"

Leia smiled bitterly. "Of course. After all, Han's freezing was only a test run for Luke."

"Speaking of Luke," Wedge began, "what happened to him? You called for an entire medic team right after the _Falcon_ exited hyperspace. How bad did he get hurt?"

Leia fiddled with the hem of the right sleeve of her shirt. "Vader cut his hand off."

"Sith," Hobbie cursed. He shook his head. "We should have stopped him," he said before turning to Tycho. "You remember when we got that message from Kyle right before Luke left. He said that a friend of ours who's in deep cover gave him a tip that we were under no conditions to let Luke leave. Of course, Corran said that something was not right about the message, and I brought up the whole incommunicado thing, so we ignored it."

"If only I had not told everyone not to come after us," Leia murmured, staring blankly at the floor. She looked up at the Rogues. "Look, it's no one's fault that this happened save Vader and the rest of the Empire. We need to remember that. This is just another reason to fight this war. I will never rest until Warender is overthrown and the Empire is gone forever."

"Don't you mean Palpatine?" Wedge asked quietly. The Rogues had asked the Jedi Council what they thought of Wes' conspiracy theories, and the majority of the Council had actually agreed with Wes' crazed ideas. That particular point, however, the Jedi Council in its entirety had agreed upon. Anakin Skywalker was particularly vehement in his opinion.

Leia nodded in assent. "Yes. Palpatine then." She paused. "That son of a sith. I can't believe I called him by that false name. He's tried to ruin the peace the last generation fought so hard to preserve, and now he's trying to secure his hold on the galaxy once more!" She glared at the wall, angry. "None of his lackeys are any better. The Corellian hells are too good for those sith. The Imperial soldiers, on the other hand, may not be all that bad, but there are some monsters. Like Tarkin and that other sadist, Isard."

Tycho narrowed his eyes at the mention of Tarkin's name. "At least Tarkin's dead," he mentioned before adding, "and we can take a small amount of satisfaction in the fact that Isard can't play ping-pong to save her life. Plus, we have a secret weapon against her."

Leia turned to Tycho, confused. Wedge groaned at the explanation he knew was to come as Hobbie explained. "The answer is Wes. He can infuriate Isard like no other."

Leia smiled. "Well, that means we have two Imps down with a few thousand to go."

Wes nodded sagely and stated, "It is definitely a good thing. Seriously, people, think on the bright side. That means we have defeated one and have the resources, me, to defeat another. I would say that's progress. Or something like progress. It's a good thing."

Leia felt a little less depressed and finished recounting the events which had happened on Bespin. The Rogues listened attentively to the entire tale, and speculated on the importance of the aide who had actually asked an intelligent question and where in the galaxy Boba Fett could be taking Han. Tycho had hypothesized a number of places, including Coruscant, where Han would be turned in to the Imperials, and Tatooine or Nal Hutta, where Han would be taken to Jabba the Hutt. Wes speculated on what Vader was up to, and Hobbie brought up the huge bounty which had been placed on Luke by some anonymous Imperial who was most likely in the upper echelons of the Empire.

While the situation was discussed, Leia listened and waited for someone to come inform her of how Luke was doing. It only vaguely entered her mind that the messenger would not know where she was. About an hour after Leia and the Rogues had begun their discussion, there was a knock on the door of the room. Leia stood to answer it, and when she opened the door, a messenger was standing in the doorway. The messenger gave a slip of flimsiplast to the Princess and dismissed herself. After shutting the door again, Leia read the message. It was about Luke, thankfully, and informed her that the surgery to attach a prosthetic hand had just finished. Leia blinked and stared at the sheet.

Concerned with Leia's reaction, Wedge walked over and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen?" Leia handed the sheet over to Wedge. He read it. "What the heck!" he exclaimed. "They already scheduled and performed surgery!"

Wes was not as surprised as Wedge and Leia had been. "It's not that strange. Luke _is_ one of the best pilots in the fleet. Of course the higher ups would make sure that he would be taken care of immediately," Wes reasoned. "Besides, remember the hell Mr. Skywalker was raising after Leia had called in? That little rant against Vader?"

"The one which ended with him hitting his head against the wall, calling himself an idiot over and over?" Tycho added. "He was probably just mad because he and General Kenobi let Luke go off to Bespin without us tagging along." The three Rogues looked to Hobbie for his opinion. Hobbie shrugged. "Then again, who knows?" Tycho added.

Leia turned to stare at Wes in realization. "Wait a second. Jedi Master Skywalker is with the fleet? When did that happen? I thought the Jedi Council was in voluntary exile for the time being? Furthermore, why is he here, of all places?" she demanded.

Since no one else was willing to talk, Wedge explained, "Well, the Council apparently had enough of staying on a swamp planet---sans Yoda---so they decided to leave and make themselves useful in the fleet, hence why Mr. Skywalker is here." Wedge paused for a moment before musing, "We really should call him General, though, since his rank from the Clone Wars was reinstated." He addressed Leia. "Are you going to go see Luke or not?" he asked. "I don't think that this good news will stay secret for long."

Leia smiled and nodded before taking her leave. She rushed off to the room in which the piece of flimsy said Luke was. She quietly knocked on the door and was answered by the Zeltron medic who had offered to throw the celebration party once they had left Hoth and was the only female on the Hoth base who had actually considered dating Wes. Regardless of the past, the medic was very somber while showed Leia into the room and left Leia and Luke to talk privately. When the door shut, there was only silence in the room for a few minutes. Luke was staring out the window at the nebula nearby in space. Leia sat down in the chair next to his bed. Luke spoke first. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Leia nodded. "Yeah." She sighed. "You want to know how completely spazzed out the Rogues are?" she asked. Luke nodded, and she filled him in on what was happening. She managed to finish her rather humorous explanation about ten minutes later with the phrase, "...and so Wes is planning the downfall of the Empire on the back of a napkin."

Luke smiled at that. "They never give up, do they?" he said, laughing softly and in much better spirits than he had been since before they had left Hoth.

Leia shook her head. "No," she agreed, grinning at Luke. "They don't. None of us will ever surrender, come hell or high water. And that's why the Empire's doomed."

"The more strict the Empire becomes, the more systems will join the Rebellion," Luke added. "The outlook is rather bright, despite the fact that more recruits will be chased off by our lovely choice of bases and our wonderful rations than by Imperial threats."

Leia giggled. "Don't forget that Wes will chase off any of the Imperial spies."

"What, by his bad pick up lines or asinine pranks?"

Leia thought for a moment in mock seriousness. "Both," she decided and was silent for a moment. Her gaze eventually traveled to Luke's hand. She wanted to ask, but felt that it would just make everything awkward between them once more, so she stared at the floor.

"I still can't believe they gave me a top of the line prosthetic," he said, noticing Leia's reticence. "I mean, you can't even tell it's not . . ." He sensed Leia's unease with the topic and did not bother to finish the sentence. "Leia, if you really feel uncomfortable, you're free to leave," Luke told her. "I don't mind. Besides, don't we need to start looking for Han?"

Leia looked up immediately. "What!" she exclaimed, surprised. "What makes you think I---Oh, nevermind. I thought you didn't want to talk about . . . what happened."

"I don't. Not yet," Luke replied hastily. "But I thought you didn't want to talk about anything that concerns what happened back at Bespin. I mean---Force, this sounds conceited---it sort of seems like you go into a depression every time I say something about my hand. It's really not all bad. Master Skywalker has a prosthetic arm, after all."

Leia nodded. "I know. And you're not being conceited. I didn't want to say anything because _you_ have been becoming depressed every time I bring up anything that happened," she explained herself, and they both went back to gazing out the window. After a moment, Leia asked, "We will find Han; won't we, Luke?"

"Of course we will," Luke replied. "We have to."

* * *

A few rooms away on the frigate _Redemption_, a certain temperamental Jedi Master was interrogating the medical staff. The Zeltron medic, Messandra, calmly explained to the very twitchy Jedi that his son was all right (although said Jedi did not think that losing a hand was "all right") and that the commander would have to stay in his room for a few days just in case he had a relapse. What seemed like a hundred questions later to Messandra, Anakin Skywalker finally left the break room in peace.

* * *

Halfway across the galaxy, Boba Fett walked into the office of the Dark Prince of the Black Sun. He was unimpressed. Xizor finished signing a document before greeting Boba. "Mr. Fett, what a pleasant surprise!" he said. Fett rolled his eyes, glad Xizor could not see through his helmet. _You called me here_, he thought sarcastically as Xizor kept talking. "Well, as you know, I have called you here on a very important job." _No, I didn't get that from your message saying to come as soon as possible._ "It is, as you have already guessed, a hit." _No surprise there._ "The target is some one particularly annoying to me, a member of the Rebel Alliance." _Get to the point._ "I am willing to pay a very large sum of money." _Define large._ "In fact, why don't you name your price." 

With that sentence, Boba's jaw dropped. For a second time today, he was glad Xizor did not have x-ray vision. This job must be very difficult. The man he was supposed to kill had to be a Jedi. No one else merited that free range of money. However, this did pose an interesting solution to the Han-sicle problem. Boba smiled. He named a very large sum of money. Then he said, "And my second condition will be you purchasing a certain work of 'art' which has recently come into my possession." Boba was amused when Xizor raised an eyebrow. If he had been talking to the man over a comlink, he would have muted the sound and laughed for a solid minute. However, that was not the case, so Boba continued: "What I speak of is actually a carbonite block in which Han Solo is incased."

Boba took great pleasure in the fact that it was Xizor's turn to gape at the other occupant of the room. "You are not going to take Solo to Jabba the Hutt?" Xizor demanded. Boba looked at him, a little confused. "Oh, nevermind. I momentarily failed to remember that Solo is still in Jabba's good graces." Xizor considered Boba's offer, and accepted it shortly thereafter. "If that is your price, I am willing to pay it. You shall receive half of your payment now and the second half after you have completed the job."

Boba nodded in agreement. "That's fair," he stated. "Who do you want me to kill?"

Xizor smiled one of his wicked reptilian smiles. "Luke Skywalker."

Boba stared at Xizor for a moment. No wonder Xizor had asked him to take this particular job. Boba knew he was truly the only bounty hunter good enough to take on the job in addition to being the only bounty hunter willing to take it. Vader had offered a similar amount for Skywalker, alive only. Boba could only guess what Vader's motivation was, but it was plainly obvious that Xizor wanted revenge, most likely on Vader. Fett considered the pros and cons to the job and came up with a final decision. "It's a deal. I'll take the job."

Xizor smiled wickedly again and drew up all of the paperwork which needed to be filled out. As he was completing the forms, Boba realized that he might have to quit this particular job early. Vader was one of his better paying employers, and Boba did not want to have to take jobs from Jabba the Hutt for the rest of his life. Aside from those two points, Skywalker's father probably would not be too pleased with him once he learned the Boba was the one who killed the Jedi's son. Boba was good in combat, but he wasn't _that_ good. There was that off chance, however, that Anakin Skywalker was in no way related to the Rebel which shared the same last name, but Boba was almost positive that they were. The battle records spoke for themselves.

The meeting concluded, and Xizor's human replica droid showed Boba out to the landing platform where the _Slave I_ was waiting. He unloaded the Han-sicle from the ship and handed the block over to the droid. After the droid had returned to the shelter of the inside of the building, Boba boarded the _Slave I_. As he prepped the ship for departure, Boba reevaluated the situation. There was definitely something amiss. Boba was not positive what that feeling was, but it was definitely there. From Xizor's manner, it seemed as if the Dark Prince did not believe that Boba would actually be able to complete the mission. If that was the case, then why would Xizor send him on the mission in the first place? As a warning to whomever would be hurt the most if Skywalker was killed? Or as a warning to Skywalker himself? Boba stopped thinking about the whole mess. He could figure out the particulars later. He had a job to do. At least, until it proved to be that Xizor was sending him on a suicide mission on purpose. If he had proof, then all bets were off.

* * *

It was barely a week since the duel on Bespin, and Darth Vader was again on Coruscant. It felt strange, looking out on the cityscape of what could have been. The Jedi Temple was still where it had always been, as was the Senate building, but the Imperial Palace and his personal castle were missing. Coruscant was in much better shape than he had ever seen it, however. Apparently having a democratic republic as the form of government did accomplish some things better than an empire, but Vader was not going to voice that particular opinion to anyone. 

After landing at the Senate building and frightening half of the Senate simply by stalking around, Vader drove himself to Palpatine's lodgings, which were coincidentally where he had lived before the rise of the Empire. Vader was unsure if Palpatine had converted 500 Republica into the Imperial Palace or not, because when he stepped into the antechamber of Palpatine's apartment, it was identical to the Emperor's chambers in the Palace. Of course, Palpatine could have hired his old decorator. Vader locked the door after him. There was a table in the center of the room and everyone was already seated at it, excluding himself. Vader sat down in the empty chair opposite Palpatine. Maul was to his left and Ventress was to his right. _Wonderful. I am to be entertained by the crazy woman and the moron. Joy_, Vader thought. Dooku and Xizor were seated next to Palpatine. Vader noticed how Xizor was seated to the right of Palpatine. He momentarily wondered if the Emperor was trying to say something to him. Maybe that he should watch out lest Xizor try to take his place? Vader did not put it past the Emperor. He sighed, which just sounded like a normal breath to all but Palpatine (the fools), and prepared himself for yet another boring strategy meeting. Wasn't Xizor supposed to present his ploy with the second Death Star?

"Wonderful," Palpatine said. "Now that we are all present, I think Prince Xizor has a plot which shall work particularly well to draw the Rebellion to their doom." Vader raised an eyebrow. What did the Emperor just say? Was the man going senile, despite the age of his youthful clone? _Damn him for cloning a young version of himself._

Xizor smiled wickedly and outlined his plan. "Everyone in this room knows that the second Death Star is being constructed. Regardless, it shall spell doom for anyone who resists in the entire galaxy. However, it would be more expedient to eliminate the threat of the Rebel Alliance before it truly becomes more than a nuisance and into a power in the galaxy. Therefore, we should give them the plans to our space station."

Vader watched passively as Ventress stared in shock, Dooku raised an eyebrow, and Maul twitched. Vader decided to add his piece. "That sounds incredibly stupid."

"Oh really, Lord Vader?" Palpatine asked. "Please enlighten us."

_Nice job, Skywalker. Dammit. Now I'm referring to myself as that idiot. Sith._ "Lemelisk has perfected the weapon this time. There are no mistakes. Why would they risk the fight?" _Who knows, but they were obviously suicidal or desperate enough to do so._ "Even if they were to do so, more rebellions would crop up every so often, Death Star or not. Is it really worth the risk of all of the lives of everyone on the space station and the materials to lure the Rebellion to destroy it? What if they do succeed?" _But it was working._ "And if we used the Imperial hierarchy as bait, what happens if a suicide squad is sent?"

"Lord Vader, your old age has certainly made you paranoid," Xizor said condescendingly. "Now, the perfect way to draw the Rebels to the Death Star---"

"You have no right to talk. You are old enough to be my grandfather," Vader replied lazily, not allowing Xizor to see his anger. _Damn Falleen bastard._ Because of the comment, Ventress giggled, Dooku looked bored, Maul had a delayed reaction and started laughing after a moment, and Palpatine looked like he felt as if he were surrounded by idiots. Xizor, on the other hand, was furious. Vader felt immense satisfaction in that simple fact.

"Lord Vader, that was certainly out of character," Xizor replied smoothly, hiding his anger, even though all in the room knew he was enraged. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Xizor said, glaring at Vader. "The perfect way to lure the Rebels to the Death Star is to make sure that the plans are delivered to them in a way that eliminates any unease about whether or not we are attempting to trap them then offering them bait they cannot refuse." Ventress was about to ask what, but Palpatine made a motion for her to stay silent while Xizor explained. "If all of the Dark Lords are on the Death Star, then the Rebellion would be completely mad not to endeavor to destroy the space station."

"That would also put you in place to take over the Empire, should the Rebellion succeed," Dooku pointed out. Vader was overjoyed that someone in the room besides him had a functioning brain. A functioning, rational brain, Vader corrected himself.

"Ah, but the Rebellion would have to defeat the entire Imperial navy and the ground forces would have to defeat the best of the Imperial army," Xizor stated. "I highly doubt the Rebels can accomplish that feat. If we defeat their ground troops before the shield generator on the forest moon is destroyed, then there is absolutely no way that the Death Star would be harmed in the slightest. Think about it. We could even capture the ground crew before they land at all and hold them in cells aboard the _Executor_, or whatever ship is available for the position of flagship. I would personally recommend _Executor_ as the picket ship patrolling everything that lands on Endor. As for the flagship, I recommend the _Lusankya_ or maybe the _Iron Fist_. If neither are acceptable, then maybe the _Chimera_ would suffice. I have heard that Thrawn is a very capable commander."

Ventress scoffed. "Are you serious? The _Lusankya_! Pardon my Ancient Alderaanian, but Isard is out of her Force-damned mind! And the _Iron Fist_? Do you want me to go on to Zsinj's numerous problems? The _Chimera_ is the only possible choice outside of the _Executor_! Thrawn is sane and incredibly intelligent, but the only reason that the _Executor_ might be put before the _Chimera_ is that it is a _Super_-class Star Destroyer."

"I agree with Ventress," Maul piped in. "But didn't the _Executor_ recently change admirals and captains? It's now the former Captain Piett and that Foray character."

Palpatine was unimpressed. "Your aide, Lord Vader? You made your aide the captain of the most powerful ship in the fleet? I have not seen such stupidity since Anakin Skywalker freefell from a speeder in the Coruscant airlanes during rush hour."

_That worked, if you remember correctly._ "The young man is a good officer and knows how to take orders," Vader defended. "He actually thinks for himself and does not perpetually live in fear of making a mistake, despite my capricious nature, and unlike many officers, he does not live with the one purpose to take his commanding officer's place."

"He might be a Jedi spy or an assassin," Dooku ventured. "Some sort of agent for the Rebellion. If he wasn't, then we probably would not be discussing him."

"He is Force-blind, insofar as I have determined," Vader replied. "However, I thought this meeting concerned this scheme of Xizor's to destroy the Rebellion, not the loyalties of a commanding officer on my personal Star Destroyer. If the captain was a traitor, he would be long dead, and it is obvious that he does not have Rebel sympathies."

Xizor smiled craftily, and Vader realized that the irritating Dark Prince had evidence to the contrary. However, instead of completely humiliating Vader, Xizor agreed. "Lord Vader is correct. We should be concentrating on the task at hand, not some insignificant officer."

Vader as rather amazed. Xizor, of all people, was agreeing with him. Judging by his surroundings and if he did not know better, he would have thought it was the apocalypse. _Actually, if my other, lucky self was here, he'd say it was._ Vader glanced around the table. Maul was snacking away on a Almond Joy, and Ventress looked sane today. _I think I would agree with him_, Vader decided. "Prince Xizor, I must have given you the impression that I disagree with your little plot, but I only think the scheme needs some work."

Palpatine found the little exchange rather amusing. "Yes, I think Lord Vader is correct in stating that your plan has some miniscule details to be cleared up. However, I assume I am correct in thinking that you were not finished with your presentation, Prince Xizor?"

"Yes, Emperor. You are correct," Xizor responded. "The ship carrying the computer which holds the plans for the second Death Star shall be under the guise of one of my company's transport ships transferring food and rations to a military base on some planet upon which the identity of is yet to be decided. The Rebels would be doubly lured to the bait because of their unique food issues." Vader smirked at that comment. "The battle which ensues would also have to be very convincing, so a heavily armed and armored ship is to be dispatched this job. The Rebel fleet would have to be carefully watched, so the Empire would have a good idea of when the attack would take place. I recommend sending an excellent secret agent to accomplish that particular assignment, one who used to work for the Rebellion previously if possible. Then all that is left is the battle itself."

"Which is best left to the military strategists," Dooku interjected. "Based off of what has already been discussed, I would recommend that Lord Vader and Grand Admiral Thrawn discuss the impending battle at Endor. They should meet at in a somewhat neutral territory, if at all possible. I would suggest Naboo. They are openly against the war, but the population is split on whether the Empire or the Rebellion should be supported."

"I agree with Count Dooku," Maul said. "But going back to what Prince Xizor said, who are we sending to watch the Alliance? Good spies don't grow on trees!"

"No gee, really?" Ventress said sarcastically. "And I thought money was made out of cotton candy and the Jedi don't have lightsabers stuck up their---"

"Moving on," Palpatine cut off Ventress. He was in no mood to listen to another of Maul and Ventress' fights. "Prince Xizor, prepare your ship for the plans. Maul, do something useful, like sorting my email or calling Thrawn to tell him to take the _Chimera_ to Naboo. Ventress, pick out the crew for Xizor's ship. Dooku, discuss the spy situation with Director Isard. And Lord Vader? Prepare your super star destroyer for immediate departure." Palpatine paused for a moment. "You are dismissed."

* * *

Another week later, Grand Admiral Thrawn was studying Corellian art while the _Chimera_ was orbiting the planet of Naboo. He was waiting for Darth Vader to arrive, but Thrawn was unconcerned about what they were supposed to be planning. No, Thrawn had a bigger, more important plan to sell to the Dark Lord. He knew that Vader would jump at any occasion to overthrow the Emperor, but Thrawn did not put it past Vader to betray _him_. Darth Vader was known for his capriciousness, and Anakin Skywalker was known for his loyalty. Thrawn did not like his odds enough to blatantly request for Vader's assistance in his current plot. Said plot was mad enough as it already was, without the help of a Sith. 

Thrawn shook his head. No, Vader would definitely acquiesce to Thrawn's request. Thrawn had long known that Vader was from a time too close to the Battle of Endor for Vader to dare to say no. It was not like he had not done any research into the matter, either. The first time he had been able to access the information, Thrawn had delved deep into the secret libraries of the Empire and learned just what exactly occurred when the Empire had been born. Vader's tale was the stuff of space operas, not reality, and that was why Thrawn knew that the Empire was most likely doomed under Palpatine. Of course, that was disregarding the fact that he himself had been foiled by that rather nasty chest ache over Bilbringi. That had finally convinced Thrawn that the Empire was doomed, regardless.

The door to the bridge opened, and Thrawn turned his chair around. Captain Pellaeon was standing at the door. "Lord Vader is here to see you, sir," the captain said.

"Show him in," Thrawn replied, turning back to the art, which he changed shortly thereafter to pieces from Alderaan. Alderaan. That was one of the few reasons that Thrawn was rather pleased to be in the current reality. The Empire's stupidity had not managed to eradicate that particular piece of culture from the galaxy. Thrawn turned his chair around once more when the door to the room shut once more and stood to greet the Dark Lord. "Lord Vader, what a pleasant surprise. I am sure your trip to the _Chimera_ was a pleasant one?"

"Dispense with the pleasantries, Thrawn," Vader thundered as he walked farther into the room. He halted when he was about five feet away from Thrawn. "I know you know the results of the Battle of Endor. There is no need whatsoever for this pointless conversation, aside from the little fact that Xizor recommended that the _Chimera_ be the commanding ship of the fleet for the battle and that the _Executor_ be on picket duty."

Thrawn smirked. "Oh yes, Xizor. The Falleen are rather annoying that way, but does he not act that way because you killed his family?" Thrawn could almost sense Vader rolling his eyes, because it seemed so in character for the Dark Lord. "Yes, you have done that to many people, including yourself, but it is a good reason for holding a grudge."

"Thrawn . . ." Vader rumbled threateningly. "I am not here to discuss my personal life with you, but to fulfill an idiotic order given to me by our all-powerful Emperor. How is the Battle of Endor to be arranged? Do you wish to take command of the _Executor_, or would you rather command the fleet from the _Chimera_ whilst the _Executor_ draws fire away?"

Thrawn considered what Vader had said. He had thought the exact same thing when Darth Maul had sent that rather odd message about Xizor recommending Thrawn for the tactical commander of the battle, but he had not expected Vader to suggest the same tactic. "I had considered that, but I decided it was rather cowardly. However, your protectiveness of the _Executor_ is legendary, so I suppose you would not wish another commander on the ship to decide what happens to her? I personally would rather stay on the _Chimera_."

"Then it is decided," Vader stated. "We remain on the ships we prefer, and you command the fleet. I find that satisfactory. Since we have no more to talk about, Thrawn, this meeting is over. If you need to sort any other details out, talk to Captain Foray."

Thrawn raised an eyebrow. Vader had promoted his aide to captain of the _Executor_? That was rather strange, but Thrawn decided the aide could be someone other than who he pretended to be. After all, "foray" meant a sudden invasion into enemy territory. Thrawn filed the information in his mind to think upon later. "Wait, Lord Vader," he said, just as the Sith was about to open the door. "I have a proposal."

Vader stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Oh?" the Dark Lord said skeptically. "And what are you proposing? If this has anything to do with Endor, I am leaving."

"No, Lord Vader. I assure you of that," Thrawn replied. "Are you familiar with the saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? I believe we share a particular enemy which will only do damage to the galaxy as a whole rather than strengthen it, and so I was wondering if you would be willing to participate in a project of mine."

Vader stepped away from the door and walked back over to Thrawn. "Are you suggesting what I think you are insinuating?" he demanded. Thrawn did not move a muscle. "You are planning to commit treason," Vader stated. Thrawn was silent as Vader tried to guess whether or not Thrawn was serious. Then Vader said, "Where do I sign up?"

Thrawn shrugged nonchalantly. "Nowhere at the moment. As I said, I have only been planning the coup, and the time in which I have planned is limited to since when Darth Maul decided to leave me a message to the present. I had been hoping that you would endorse my venture to create a little discord within Imperial ranks, possibly start a coup, and in the end, ensure that the Republic governs once more."

"Besides myself, who do you have in mind for your venture?" Vader asked before seriously reminding, "We are talking treason here, on par with the Rebels. Palpatine trusts neither of us; how do you know that we are not being overheard, Thrawn?"

Thrawn smiled. "Oh, I know we are not being overheard. As everyone on the _Executor_ is loyal to you, everyone on the _Chimera_ is loyal to me. There is no risk whatsoever of any of this talk finding its way back to the Emperor, unless Miss Jade decides to talk, but I doubt she shall cooperate with His Royal Highness more than she has to. As to who we should recruit, our two star destroyers make a good start, but I have also been thinking of talking to Baron Fel. We would then gain the 181st, which would be a real boon. Have you heard the tale of their encounter with Rogue Squadron at Selttiks?"

Vader nodded. "The two squadrons came to an agreement to disagree and went their separate ways, theoretically not disclosing the true facts of what occurred. What happened that would cause you to think that Fel would be willing to take his squadron on our suicide mission? Does he harbor Rebel sympathies or disagree with the Emperor?"

Thrawn called up a number of pictures on the screen which had been displaying the Alderaanian art. A number of the holos were of engagements between the 181st and Rogue Squadron. "As you know, the woman on the far right is Wynssa Starflare. Her real name, however, is Syal Antilles, and her brother is Wedge Antilles, second in command of Rogue Squadron. It would be obvious that she should be a Rebel sympathizer, no?"

"Of course," Vader replied, "unless this has something to do with Fel."

"Exactly. She is married to the good Baron, so Ms. Starflare has some alliance issues. She cannot support one side or the other without condemning one of her loved ones to death. This could be the perfect way out of the situation for Fel and his wife. He would not have to meet his brother-in-law in battle, and Ms. Starflare would have a better state of mind. Regardless of how it turns out for them, we win."

"Bringing Fel over to our side would be a good start to winning over the rest of the fleet," Vader added. "I think I would be able to convince a number of the star destroyer captains I deal with normally. The Emperor would be practically powerless if the armed forces were taken away from him, and it is necessary that we gain control of the Death Star."

Thrawn nodded. "No arguments there. Do you think that the other Sith could be convinced to join this scheme?" he asked, expecting Vader to ask him if he were mad.

"Maul would be overjoyed," Vader replied honestly. "Ventress follows whatever Dooku does, and I think Dooku would be more than willing to help us, even though I sort of killed him. It _was_ Palpatine's fault, though," Vader added. "We need to look out for the Emperor's Hands, however, as well as Palpatine's psychotic Red Guardsmen."

Thrawn was vaguely and pleasantly surprised. All the Sith were willing to go against their master. Perfect. "And what of the Noghri? Do you know if they would still serve you?"

"No," Vader stated. "My other, incredibly lucky self has managed to become their savior for one reason or another, and I doubt they would help me even if I proved to them that I was him since we are on the opposite sides of this war. And you?"

"I have no desire to work with the Nohgri ever again," Thrawn answered laconically. "The reason I asked was that we have Imperial Intelligence against us. Isard absolutely detests me, and from what I have heard of your interactions with her, she hates you an equal amount. Speaking of other commanders of _Super_-class star destroyers, I do not think we should talk to Admiral Zsinj. He is a brilliant commander, but we would make better progress in reestablishing the Republic without him."

"That sounds suitable," Vader acknowledged. "One question, Thrawn. How do you plan that we eliminate the old man? It is not like I can sneak up on him and throw him down one of those convenient bottomless shafts on the Death Star."

Thrawn hid a grin with his hand and simply replied, "You never know."

* * *

On Naboo in the capital city of Theed, the captain of the _Executor_ was on shore leave. Little did he know that the highest and mightiest in the Empire had been discussing him, although truth be told, he would have been disturbed to hear that information. Yes, Captain Kayl Foray would have been very disturbed. Like Vader had said, Kayl was a good captain who thought on his feet and was not scared to death of the Dark Lord. He was acutely aware that a good number of the bridge crew resented him for that ability to "ignore" the Dark Lord. That was actually why he was in a more peaceful part of town; none of the crew save he had ventured that far into the city. Kayl glanced at his wrist-chrono and noticed it was around lunchtime. That reminded him that he had not eaten real food for too long. 

Kayl stopped and made his way back to the spaceport. He walked into the bar he had noticed earlier, before his excursion into the city. It was called the Red Windmill, and it was built in the same style of architecture as the rest of the city and, despite its location, had a very nice interior. There was very little artificial lighting, and the atmosphere was relaxed and had a devil-may-care attitude to it without being dingy. There was the normal type of spaceport crowd also in the tavern, and Kayl seated himself at a table near the window and waited for a waitress. Considering how happy he was to finally eat out after eating Imperial rations for a few months, Kayl realized he really needed to get out more often. Unfortunately, working on Vader's prized ship really tended to kill one's social life. As he was thinking about his social life or lack thereof, _she_ arrived.

Kayl completely missed the arrival of the waitress and only looked up from the table once she had cleared her throat because she was rather impatient. The first thing the raven-haired captain thought when he saw her was, _Is she an angel?_ He did not say that out loud, of course; some of his friends had used that particular pickup line so much with little success for far too long, but he really did mean what he thought. The waitress was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Her fire red hair was done up in a tight bun, and her green eyes radiated boredom. Kayl suddenly felt very embarrassed for daydreaming.

The waitress rolled her eyes. She had been having a bad day so far, and this event was only making it worse. Imperial officers had to be treated with respect, but she did not feel any for this one. "May I take your order?" she asked, a tad annoyed.

"Erm, I don't have a menu," Kayl replied. He cursed his inability to talk to women; his so-called friends constantly made fun of him for that. "I'd like a Coca Cola to drink, though."

The waitress realized she in fact had not given him a menu and rectified her mistake before saying, "Fine. I'll give you a few minutes to think, and I'll get that coke for you," and storming off into the kitchen. While in there, one of her coworkers walked over. She suddenly had a very bad feeling about the whole situation. "Valerie, what do you want?"

Valerie, a fellow waitress, grinned like a cat. "Oh, come on, Tessa!" she exclaimed. "You could at least be a little nicer to the poor Imp. Think about it! He's probably been having to eat Imperial rations for who knows how long." She paused and put on a thoughtful expression, plotting. "And besides, he's rather handsome. Looks lonely, too."

Tessa glared. "You are not going to try to set me up with another customer, especially not an Imperial!" she retorted. Valerie had done so at least three times in the past month. "And he seems like he has horrible social skills! That's no reason to date him. Even if he does have pretty cobalt blue eyes!" Once she said that, Tessa immediately regretted it.

"So you do like him?" Valerie said. "C'mon Tess, admit it. You actually like this one."

"He _looks_ nice. That's it. He probably has the personality of a cardboard box," Tessa replied, "like the rest of the Imperials. And do you not have a table to wait on? That one with the crazy 'shady substances transporters'? I think one of them needs a refill. Isn't he the one that has been asking for your number every single time they come here?"

Valerie looked hurt. "Oh, Tessa. That was low. Phoenix is completely sane. His friends are just much saner, and yes, he has asked me out multiple times. Besides, you're pointing at Perceval, and Perceval never drinks more than that," she added. "You shouldn't talk of them like so. They are our most frequent customers. And about that Imp, you know someone with 'pretty cobalt blue eyes' has to have some sort of a personality."

Once again, Tessa was glaring daggers at Valerie. "Well, I just don't like him. He reminds me of someone I hate desperately, who does have a personality of cardboard."

"Uh-huh," Valerie said, disbelieving, and rolled her eyes. "You just keep telling yourself that, Tessa, while you go talk to him. I think he's ready to order."

After filling a glass with the soft drink Kayl had ordered, Tessa glared at Valerie one last time before walking back over to Kayl's table. She set the drink down and asked, "Are you ready to order yet?" She felt like sighing in exasperation because of Valerie but didn't.

Kayl smiled disarmingly at her. "Yes. I'd like an order of Corellian curry and some Alderaanian soup," he replied. His sister hated Alderaanian soup, but he happened to like it. A friend of his obsessed over it and made it more often than ramen.

Tessa nodded and wrote down the order. She was about to walk off, but decided to add, "You're a brave soul. You do know how spicy Corellian curry is, don't you?"

"Yeah," Kayl replied, grinning. "One of my best friends makes it all the time." Kayl's smile faded when he remembered he had not seen either of his Corellian friends for about a year and a half. "Well, he and another of my friends used to make it. I---" He sighed. "Well, I haven't seen either of them for a year and a half, to tell the truth."

Tessa was very intrigued. _A year and a half? Could he be from...?_ she wondered. "Why past-tense? Did your friends die or did they go off and join the Rebellion?" she asked, noting Kayl's slight wince when she mentioned the Rebellion.

Kayl grimaced and shook his head. "No, I'm the one that defected," he admitted, but he went on to defend himself, "However, the reason is that I somehow ended up deep in Imperial-held space with no way to contact the Alliance. I wasn't recognized, so I joined them." He took a drink and laughed bitterly. "Biggest mistake of my life."

Tessa raised an eyebrow. His story sounded all too familiar. She finally noticed the what rank he was. There were only two star destroyers orbiting Naboo, and one of them was captained by Gilead Pellaeon. The other was the _Executor_. "Why? You're probably one of the best paid men in the galaxy; you are the captain of Vader's ship."

Kayl stiffened. He knew he should not have worn his uniform, but that was another department he was lacking in besides a social life. "So I guess you have not heard about Vader's explosive temper?" Kayl asked. Tessa laughed and shook her head, which caused Kayl to remember that Vader did not have such a bad reputation in this part of the universe.

Tessa grinned. "Why don't we start over? My name's Tessa Stargate, and I think you might be from the same section of the universe which I am from. I should be more specific: the place where Vader does have that reputation."

"What a coincidence," Kayl replied good-naturedly. "That _is_ the same place I'm from. It's nice to meet you. I'm called Kayl Foray. Well, around here at least. I couldn't keep my real name. You can probably imagine why." He paused. "I shouldn't hold you up. I mean, you are working right now. I don't want to be the cause of you losing any pay or anything."

Tessa shrugged it off. "No problem. The owner (he's the bartender) couldn't care less. That, and I'm getting off work in another ten minutes." She smiled. Valerie had actually known what she was talking about this time. Back where she belonged, Tessa would have never guessed she would ever talk to a Rebel peaceably, but that was another life now. "Say, you wouldn't mind if I joined you for lunch, would you?" she asked.

Kayl's face turned red. "Um, s-sure," he managed to stammer. "I'd be honored."

Tessa smiled slyly. "I'll be right back with your order," she said before waltzing back off into the kitchen. Valerie was standing next to the door with a triumphant expression on her face. "Yes, you were right this time," Tessa conceded. "But because of that, I'm punching out ten minutes early. So, I'd like an Ithorian salad with Coruscantian dressing."

Valerie shrugged. "All I can say is that it was well worth it this time, Tessa. You're infinitely happier now," she said as Tessa told the cook Kayl's order and her own. "So," Valerie said conspiratorially, "What's Mr. Imperial Officer's name, rank, and comm number?"

Tessa threw her work apron at Valerie. "He didn't give me his comm number," she replied. "He's a captain, though." Valerie waited, and Tessa continued, "His name's Kayl Foray, and before you say anything else, you were right: he does have a personality."

Valerie stared blankly at Tessa. "Wait a second. You mean he's Captain Foray of the _Executor_? Vader's right hand man?" she asked. When Tessa nodded, Valerie continued, "Dang. I really can pick 'em, can't I? Anyway, I'd make sure he doesn't talk to Phoenix and his friends. They absolutely hate the Empire, and especially Lord Vader."

"All smugglers hate the Empire, Val," Tessa pointed out. _So the captain's been in the news? Odd that I've never seen anything on him_, she thought. "What's their big beef with Vader, though? As far as I've heard on the news, he's one of the better Imperials."

"Well, from what I've gathered, he maimed a friend of theirs," Valerie replied. "Phoenix doesn't like to talk about it, and Spiro never mentions it at all. There's some huge hatred there. Makes you wonder what sort of person Vader really is."

"Yeah," Tessa replied, nodding. _Well, that narrows down who those smugglers are a whole hell of a lot_, Tessa thought sarcastically. She had known for a while that they, like she, were actually from the other version of the galaxy, but she had never really desired to talk to them. They were extremely dedicated to the Alliance, and the only reason that they were not there was that they could possibly meet their other selves. Tessa could relate to those sentiments; that was one of the reasons cloning was outlawed after the Clone Wars.

The cook then called Tessa over and handed her the food, and Tessa made her way back to the table which Kayl was sitting at. She set the food down and handed him the check. "If it's not a bother, could you pay now instead of later?" she asked.

Kayl smiled and replied, "Of course." He fished a hundred credit bill from his wallet and handed the money to Tessa. She smiled back at him and said, "I'll be over in a minute or so," before walking over to the cash register. While she was fiddling around with the register, Tessa noticed one of the smugglers (if memory served her right, he was named Spiro Cook) rise from his chair and walk over to Kayl. She watched in bewilderment as Cook grabbed Kayl by the collar and decked him. "You traitorous bastard," Cook spat.

Kayl sat up from the floor and wiped the blood from his mouth, and the smuggler called Calvin Hobbes walked over to help him up. Hobbes apologized for his friend. "I'm sorry, Captain," he said, noting the rank insignia. "Spiro's a little drunk. Sometimes he gets like this, but he rarely lashes out at Imperials," Hobbes continued, lying about the frequency of Spiro's outbursts. Tessa had actually heard Valerie and Phoenix talking about how much trouble Spiro and occasionally Perceval got themselves into by their dislike of Imperials.

"Don't help him up, Hobbes," Spiro growled. "Don't you recognize him?" Tessa watched in rapt amazement. So these were Kayl's Rebel friends. Spiro was Corellian, without a doubt. Hobbes looked at Spiro questioningly before Kayl shook his head.

"It's all right, Hobbes," Kayl said to the smuggler with a sad smile. "I can get up on my own." He stood and addressed Spiro. "I thought I'd never see you again, much less see you again in a bar. I thought you said you weren't cut out to be a smuggler?"

"Well, some things changed my mind," Spiro retorted. "I thought you hated the Empire more than anything in the universe?" Kayl looked down at the floor in disgrace. "I mean, after everything they've done to all of us? Especially what _Vader_'s done to you."

"What was I supposed to do?" Kayl demanded, stricken. "Should I have just said, 'Oh, Lord Vader, by the way, I'm an officer of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. Can I borrow a TIE Defender?' I had no choice!" he exclaimed. "I had no Sith-be-damned choice!"

Phoenix walked over. "Spiro, really. You shouldn't be so hard on him," he said. "You know he doesn't---sorry, _can't_ lie." Phoenix sighed and shook his head. "We have no right to talk, you know. We're not with the Rebels, either! It's a miracle he's still alive, too. If Vader knew, you _know_ that fragging Sith would kill him in an instant." Spiro pretended not to listen, so Phoenix repeated himself. "Dammit, Spiro, you know it would happen!"

Spiro glared at Phoenix and then shifted his gaze to Kayl. "I _trusted_ you," Spiro said, disgusted with his friend, and stormed out of the tavern. Perceval walked over and exchanged a look with Hobbes, who ran off after Spiro. Phoenix just shook his head.

"Damn," Perceval swore before turning to Kayl. "Care to explain yourself?"

Kayl nodded and explained distraughtly, "I woke up on the Imp base, Mustafar, and I've worked as Vader's aide since then. Right after Bespin, he suddenly promoted me to captain, and to make things worse," he said, "I ran into someone we all know well. Let's just say I couldn't talk him out of making a mistake." Kayl laughed bitterly, his right arm shaking. "You have no clue how glad I am that Vader hasn't asked me to order the destruction of---"

"You don't have to say any more," Perceval said, stopping Kayl. He looked in the direction of the door. "Spiro's not really mad at you for joining the Imps; he's just---well, we're all upset that you haven't contacted us at all. But, I guess there was no way you would have known we were here," Perceval admitted.

"Look, Boss," Phoenix said, causing Kayl to cringe. "Why don't you just look us up the next time you're on Naboo? I'm sure Spiro'll have calmed down by then."

"Please call me Kayl; I'm not worthy of being called your boss anymore."

"Whatever you say, Commander," Perceval said in his Alderaanian accented Basic.

"Tyk, please don't," Kayl begged his friend, but Perceval Tyklonin was adamant. Kayl turned to Tessa, who had walked over during the argument. "I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to leave. Can I take you up on your offer later?" he asked, anxious to return to the _Executor_ as quickly as possible. He did not want to still be in the bar when Spiro returned.

Tessa smiled warmly and replied, "Of course. Call me when you're in town next." She handed him his receipt (which had her comm number on it) and was about to hand him his change, but he shook his head and told her to keep it before he said goodbye to his old friends and left. Tessa was rather shocked. As was Phoenix, who glanced at the change and exclaimed, "Dear God! Damn, Kayl must really like you." It was not an odd thing to say, Tessa reflected. After all, the change Kayl had turned down was eighty credits.

* * *

Back on Coruscant, the Dark Lords of the Sith were in their semisecret base in the industrial sector of Coruscant, sitting at an ancient wooden table, discussing Vader and said Dark Lord's obsession with young Skywalker. Palpatine was to join them later, but it was currently just Maul, Dooku, and Ventress complaining about their fellow Sith. Ventress was particularly cautious of the man in the suit, and now had this opportunity to voice her opinion on the matter with her fellows and Palpatine without Vader himself knowing. Dooku, on the other hand, felt like there was some deeper motive to Vader's hunt for Skywalker than the fact that the boy was incredibly powerful in the Force. Maul, quite frankly, did not care. Yes, he was curious about Vader, but so was the rest of the galaxy. "Count, Ventress; look, I do not think that we should be speaking this way of one of our own," Maul said, defending Vader. "Our hate and anger would be better spent on the Jedi rather than another of the Sith. If you remember correctly, this is exactly why the Sith of old decided to instate the 'only two' rule. Or do you not remember that?" 

Ventress rolled here eyes. "There's something wrong about Vader, and you can sense it, too, Maul. You just decide to ignore the the Force is telling you," she retorted. "I know his Force-signature; I just cannot place it. And then there is this obsession with Anakin Skywalker's son." Ventress spat out Skywalker's name with the utmost amount of hatred. "It's almost as if he has a better reason to take revenge on Skywalker than we do."

"You never know, Ventress," Dooku replied calmly. "And Maul, I specifically remember you saying a while back that Vader had too much light in him. If you have noticed, his light has actually been gaining ground against the dark. This change started occurring right after he interrogated Senator Amidala, if you did not notice."

Ventress raised an eyebrow. "Verily? That is strange," she said. "I actually had not noticed any light coming off from him, but do you remember that one time when that irritating aide of his ran into us in the halls about four months ago? All Vader did was tell him to be more careful, which was completely out of character for him. Normally, he would have Force-choked the boy and have been done with it. You know, this is the second time that damn aide has come up in a meeting where we meet. The Force has to be telling us something!"

Maul shook his head. "No. I do not think we have anything to fear from that particular Rebel," he said, getting looks of shock from the other two occupants of the room. "What? You couldn't tell? Well, I supposed Vader cannot, but I thought you both sensed it."

"Is this just a feeling, or do you actually have proof, Maul?" Dooku queried.

"Just a feeling," Maul replied, but added, "I did question him about his loyalties, though, and he said he would not betray the Empire unless he was ordered to do something that conflicted with his morals. I mind-wiped him after that, but that was pretty tough since he has a surprisingly strong mind. Oh, and he's Force-sensitive, too."

"And you neglected to tell us this before why?" Ventress demanded.

"It didn't seem important. Besides, Xizor's a pain in the rear end. I didn't want to see him proven right at the expense of Vader, because at least Vader is almost standable."

"Maul has a point," Dooku admitted before changing the topic back to Skywalker. "What do either of you know about young Skywalker and what happened at Bespin?"

Ventress took a sheaf of paper out of her briefcase and set it down at the table. "This is all of the information that the Imperial spynet has gathered on Luke Skywalker," she stated. "From what I have read, Vader and Skywalker dueled on Bespin, but Skywalker got away, albeit less his right hand, but he still got away . . ." She scanned some more of her papers. "Oh, this is interesting. Captain Foray warned Skywalker away from Vader."

"That is rather peculiar," Dooku said. "I have a feeling that that piece of information is what Xizor was withholding at the last meeting about a week ago. Remember when he donned that expression which made him look as if he had the upper hand against Vader? If that information had been introduced during that meeting, then Lord Sidious would have been very displeased with Vader. It is very likely that Xizor has some sort of scheme in place to completely destroy Vader in the eyes of the Emperor. That is the only possible reason that the Dark Prince did not say anything that the meeting."

Ventress nodded in agreement. "That makes perfect sense. Xizor also seems to bear a grudge against Skywalker, too. I mean the elder Skywalker, the annoying General."

Maul put on a sagelike expression. "Ah, that is because the Chosen One busted an important Black Sun drug ring a few years back. I read it in the paper."

Ventress glared at Maul. "How _do_ you _do_ that?" she demanded.

Maul, confused, was about to reply when Palpatine waltzed in. He was wearing one of those ridiculous naval officer dress uniforms, and Maul was reminded of when the Chosen One had been acting as Palpatine's secretary and had protested by wearing the same outfit. Maul had problems containing his laughter, and the rest of the occupants of the room just decided that Maul was having another one of his episodes.

Palpatine sat down at the head of the table and asked, "What has been discussed so far in this meeting? Have you heard anything from Lord Vader or the Grand Admiral?"

Ventress pushed the papers off of the table in a subtle manner and replied, "No, Master, we have not received any word from either Vader or Thrawn. Um, we have, however, been discussing certain things in the Empire which have come to our attention as rather strange or quite odd. Or, in one case, damnably annoying."

Palpatine sighed exasperatedly. "I explicitly forbid you all from creating conspiracy theories about the assassination plots of and on Prince Xizor, and yet you do so anyway. Secondly, if anyone else mentions how curiously Vader's aide acts, I'll zap them with Force lightning. I'm the only one that needs to worry about that boy. And finally, I've told you all multiple times, I ordered Vader to capture Skywalker so we could a) turn him to the Dark Side and b) use him as collateral against that damned Chosen One."

"That's all we talked about, Lord Sidious," Dooku said quietly. "It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that nothing else is going on in the Empire that concerns us."

Palpatine stared at the other three people sitting at the table. "Oh. Continue your mindless chatter, then," Palpatine said irately, albeit he listened closely to the discussion.

* * *

Princess Leia stared off into the sunset over the Tatooine desert. For some reason or another, she was completely entranced. She hadn't expected the setting suns to create such an effect on the sky with the swirling reds and yellows mixing in with the blue of dusk. As the day gradually faded into night, the air and the scorching sands were cooling off. Leia, still awed, barely noticed that she was also becoming chilly. Someone else, however, did notice. Leia felt a blanket around her shoulders and turned to see Luke standing next to her. 

"You know, you shouldn't be standing out here all alone, Princess," he said, smiling.

Leia smiled back sadly and returned her gaze to the sunset. "I know," she replied before realizing she had repeated what Han had said. She had to tell Luke about what was bothering her, but she had not expected it to be as hard as it was to say the truth. "Luke . . . There's something I have to tell you," she said. He looked at her, a little confused, and Leia continued, "A long while back, I heard from a friend that your father was---is a Dark Lord."

Leia, unsure of how Luke would react, turned to see her friend, head bowed, staring at the ground. He laughed nervously and shook his head. "You mean you've known this _entire_ time?" Luke demanded, not quite angry. "I suppose you'll tell the High Command?"

Leia arched an eyebrow. "Why would I?" she asked rhetorically. "And even if I did, they wouldn't give a damn, Luke." Pieces of the puzzle suddenly fit together in Leia's mind. "Wait a second. Is this what's been bothering you since Bespin?" she realized.

Luke sighed and turned to stare at her. "You really don't care, do you," he asked quietly, hoping that what he said was true, that Leia really did not think any less of him. "You don't care that my---my father's a Sith Lord or that he tried to get me to join him?"

Leia shook her head. "You jumped off a gantry to certain death to escape him," she reminded him. "I think that's enough proof you won't turn to the Dark Side anytime soon." Leia smiled. "Besides, I don't think anyone loyal to the Empire would want to help me save a good-for-nothing smuggler with Rebel sympathies from a bounty hunter, would they?"

Luke held her gaze. "Thank you," he murmured before falling silent for a moment. The real reason he wanted to talk to her resurfaced. Although what she had said had softened his resolve a little, Luke was still adamant in stopping her. "Leia, I know you want to find Han, but what you are planning on doing is just plain suicide!" he exclaimed.

Leia grimaced. So _that_ was why he had come out of the hotel to talk. Not because she looked lonely, but because she was planning on going on a "suicide mission," as Luke had taken to calling it. "Would you just stop with that? I know how dangerous the Black Sun is!" she yelled back at him. Her patience on the matter was wearing dreadfully thin. Of course she knew how bad the Black Sun could be. Her father ranted against it every time he sent himself on a mission to stop the group's corrupt dealings in the criminal underworld.

"All I'm trying to say, Leia, is that it's not worth it!" Luke replied, now on the defensive. "What would Han say if he knew you were going to go to _Xizor_ to find him? What would your parents say if they knew you were going to a criminal overlord for help?"

_My father would lock me in my room for life_, Leia thought, but she said, "I don't care what my parents would say. You know as well as I do that Xizor, with his spynet, would be able to find Fett, and therefore Han, without batting an eyelash!" Leia could only hope that Luke would not say anything about the payment that Xizor would demand.

Unfortunately for Leia, Luke, incensed, went on to say just that. "And how exactly are we supposed to pay for the information, Leia? The Rebellion sure as hell doesn't have enough money to get that sort of information out of him and still let you go. Remember how high the bounty is on you? For the Force's sake, it's almost as high as the one on me! Even if the Rebellion did cough up the money, who's to say what would happen to you once he receives it? You could be turned over the Empire or---or who knows what!"

Leia set her jaw. "I'm going and that's that," she declared steadfastly before turning around and walking back into the hotel, leaving Luke where he was standing. Once inside the hotel, Leia walked to her room and slammed the door behind her. She angrily started to pack her belongings once more, like she had at lunch the day before when Luke had tried to dissuade her. He had almost convinced her then, but now she was going to go no matter what. _How dare he insinuate that I'm incapable of taking care of myself! _ she thought irately, stuffing a pair of desert fatigues into her satchel. _For Force's sake, Luke isn't my older brother, so he should stop acting like one!_ Leia stomped into the refresher and grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste. Leia's anger stemmed from her feeling that she actually did care that Luke was that concerned about her, but also that she knew he would come after her if something horrible were to happen. He would rush off into the heart of the Empire, and Leia was scared of what would happen to him if he were caught. Especially now that her fears were confirmed. Leia sat down on the bed and hoped that Luke would not go as far as to tell her father about what she was planning to do. Then she remembered that not even her best friend knew she was the daughter of the Hero With No Fear.

Guilt entered her mind then and plagued her with a vengeance. The voice would not abate until she was halfway to Coruscant on the transport she had booked the week before. She eventually took some solace in the fact that she had hired a "freelance jack-of-all-trades" to look after Luke while she was away on Coruscant and Lando and Chewie were searching the Corporate Sector for clues about Han. When she had met the colorful Corellian mercenary, she had been completely unsurprised when he had introduced himself as the aforementioned euphemism. Leia had wondered what she had done to the galaxy in order to cause it to make her run into a plethora of annoying men from Corellia. _On the bright side_, she thought, _at least Rendar took the job. Then again, I wasn't expecting him, a member of one of the most influential and wealthy families on Coruscant, to show up and offer his help! _Leia had a sneaking suspicion that Han had something to do with Rendar's willingness. What was next? Han being related to Dalla the Black? Leia hit her head against the support beam in her room on the transport. She shouldn't have thought that; now that she thought about it, it made all too much sense if Han was related to that former mob boss.

* * *

_A Jedi, a mercenary, and a bounty hunter walk into a bar. Dear God, that sounds like the beginning to a bad joke_, Dash mused as he followed Skywalker into some random cantina. He had noticed Fett tailing the Rebel pilot about a half an hour before whilst Dash was effectively doing the same thing for the same reason, although Dash knew he had a different purpose. Regardless, it was starting to become annoying. Dash felt like he had to clarify that both Fett tailing the kid and the kid moping around were annoying. Skywalker---Dash called him that even though he was a friend of a few friends of his---had started moping when that crazy Jedi princess had flown off to Coruscant to talk to the Dark Prince of the Black Sun. All the moping had made Dash's job harder since no less than three assassins and four bounty hunters (excluding Fett) had already tried to capture or kill the kid since said crazy girl left a few days ago. All that deterring which Dash had been forced to do made him want to push up the rate he was charging, especially when he looked at the updated "Most Wanted" list and found that the kid was at the top with a hefty sum on him. 

Dash shook his head and meandered over to the nearest sabacc game in the cantina as the kid sat down at the bar and ordered a drink which looked suspiciously alcoholic. Fett still had not made a big move and was slinking around in the shadows. Dash wondered if the bounty hunter had caught on to the fact that Dash had guard duty. Halfway through the sabacc game (and on the kid's third drink), Fett finally did something. Although that "something" was an event which Dash wished could have been avoided: Fett walked over to Dash and asked to talk to him outside. All of that was said civilly, no less.

Once in the dark outside the cantina, Dash demanded, "Okay, Fett. What the hell is going on around here?" Dash knew he could probably get away with saying something along the lines of that because of his connections and hopefully because Fett was not after him. If that wasn't the case, then Dash would not be around long enough to regret saying so.

"I'm sure you know 'what the hell' is happening, Rendar," Fett retorted then gestured back to the cantina. "You've been guarding the Skywalker boy for the past few days. That interferes with my current job, coincidentally," Fett explained before drawing a blaster on Dash. However, Dash was already a mile ahead of the seasoned bounty hunter and had drawn his own blaster at the same time. "I see we are already at an impasse."

"It's only an impasse if you make it one, Fett," Dash replied. "I'm doing my job regardless. I owe a few people. I know you're not backing down, either, but maybe we could come to some sort of agreement," he suggested, hoping Fett wouldn't shoot him where he stood. Since Fett didn't shoot him or say anything more, Dash continued, "Look, I know that kid's got a krething big bounty on him by the Imps, but I didn't think---"

Fett caused Dash to stop talking when the infamous bounty hunter suddenly reholstered his blaster. _Thank God for small miracles_, Dash thought, but he couldn't help but wonder what was going on in Fett's head. That was as much a mystery as what the man looked like. "Fine, Rendar. Just tell me one thing, and I'll think about it. Where did the Princess of Alderaan go to? She was supposed to be here with Skywalker."

Dash raised an eyebrow. Why would Fett want to know that of all things? Dash decided it would be best to answer the bounty hunter. "En route to Coruscant to talk to Xizor as of five days ago," he answered. Fett reacted rather well to the information.

"Force dammit all to krething Sith hell," Fett suddenly swore. "I should have known that damnable Falleen would double-cross me." Dash decided it was a definite score for the Alliance: Fett would not be working for Xizor anytime soon it seemed. Fett noticed Dash was staring at him questioningly and explained, "Xizor decided yesterday that I would only be paid if I captured the girl as well as killed Skywalker. If what you're telling me is true, then I would be better off turning Skywalker over to the Empire." Dash took the safety off of his blaster again. Fett noticed and continued, "Fortunately for you and Skywalker, I have another job to attend to now that I am not working for Xizor anymore. And, if you have any care to know, that idiot Solo is in Xizor's possession at the moment." Dash was about to say something, but Fett cut him off. "It's my revenge; you must understand." Fett glanced back towards the cantina and commented, "I'd suggest you go retrieve Skywalker before he drinks himself under the table," before walking off into the night.

Dash chalked it up as the bounty hunter finally having lost his mind and walked back into the cantina to find the kid looking somewhat drunk and still moping at the bar where Dash had left him. Sighing, he walked over to the kid to tell him about Han. That particular piece of information proved that the Jedi princess was in fact completely insane. Then again, if the princess had not left, Dash would probably not be breathing after that encounter with Fett. Shaking his head, Dash tapped Skywalker on the shoulder and sat down at the bar next to him. "Aren't you a little young to be drinking that?" Dash asked.

"Go away," Luke replied laconically before taking another drink. Dash realized the kid was more upset than Dash had thought when he saw what Luke was drinking. Besides, the kid did not normally completely ignore old friends. Truthfully, Dash knew him through Wedge's older sister, but he was also Han's friend. Hence why Dash had agreed to this job in the first place. After a moment, Luke said, "You know, I didn't think that Leia actually hired a bodyguard for me until Fett walked into the cantina and started talking to you."

Dash rolled his eyes. "And you didn't think of this when you suddenly stopped being attacked by every bounty hunter and assassin in a twelve lightyear radius?"

Luke glared at him. "I could have taken care of myself!" he exclaimed bitterly. "Who does Leia think she is, anyway? My sister?" He glared at the glass he was holding.

"You think you could have taken care of yourself, kid?" Dash repeated, unconvinced. "So says you, who I happen to think is rather drunk." He shook his head again. "I can't believe Tycho and the rest actually let you and the princess out of their sight after what happened to Han. It's a damn shame the Imps caught him. Bigger shame Xizor has him."

Luke looked up from his drink. "What?" he demanded, all anger gone. "Xizor has Han? You---you can't be serious! Please, Dash, tell me you aren't serious!"

"Oh, so now you're being friendly, Luke," Dash said sarcastically. "And I thought you were going to act like your 'sister' the Ice Princess all night." After a few seconds of Luke looking at him pleadingly, Dash gave in and explained. "Look, Fett, who as you noted decided to have a little chat with me, gave me that little piece of information free of charge because Xizor was cheating him out of money and reneging on some agreement. And then he walked off without killing either of us. It was a very nice arrangement, if you ask me."

Luke was staring at Dash wide-eyed. "Boba Fett, the infamous bounty hunter, actually _told _you, free of charge, where Han is? And decided not to pick up the bounty on me?" Luke asked in complete disbelief. He scoffed and continued bitterly, "Yeah, right, Dash. Does that also mean Anakin Skywalker's my father?"

Dash raised an eyebrow. _Now where did that come from?_ "So why are you using his last name, then, kid?" he asked, genuinely curious. "I mean, if---"

Luke went on the defensive. "Leia suggested it. I never wanted to use that name."

Dash resisted the urge to whistle. Apparently there was some sort of deep problem Luke was dealing with which had absolutely nothing to do with the Princess. The last time Dash had actually talked to Luke, the kid had practically been preaching about how completely awesome the Hero With No Fear was. And now there was this complete turn around. "Kid," Dash said, completely serious. "Luke, look at me." The young Jedi reluctantly obeyed. "I'm serious here. Fett told me Xizor has Han. Leia is going to Xizor to find Han. That is a bad thing. Xizor does not like her father. That means the Princess is about to be held in order to check the Rebels, particularly her father. She might also be used as bait to lure some of the Jedi, and even you, to Coruscant. So, Kid, what are we going to do?"

Luke stared at Dash. "We're going after her," he stated and paid the bartender a lower amount than Dash had expected. Luke observed Dash's shock. "What? Did you think I was really drinking? If you can't tell the difference between Whyvren's Reserve and water, Dash, you're sure as hell in the wrong business . . ." Luke left a tip and walked out.

Dash contemplated the counter. How the hell had he missed that? _Damn Jedi mind tricks_, he decided before following Skywalker out of the cantina.

* * *

The _Executor _had just completed a mission near the Outer-Rim world of Arips, helping to put down an insurrection which concerned a malfunctioning, ancient superweapon. Admiral Piett and General Veers were, as usual, taking their victory coffee break. Truth be told, only Veers was taking a coffee break: Piett was taking a _tea_ break. In any case, they were both rather glad to be done with that planet, especially after having dealt with the locals the captain had deemed "rather eccentric." When Veers finally brought the eccentric locals back up, Piett said, "You know the captain was only being polite when he said that, Max." 

"Of course," Veers replied, taking another sip of coffee. "God forbid he ever insult someone, even if it is a hyperactive mechanic who was hellbent on driving us mad."

"Don't forget the local guide who spoke like a Gungan on death-sticks," Piett mentioned. "At least that local priestess understood the situation. She was the one that called for help, correct?" Veers nodded. "And the government was in complete shambles."

"Pity we couldn't help set up a government," Veers said. "It looked like they were in a transition period from a theocracy into a system of separate, local governments."

"Yes," Piett agreed. He paused. "Do you think Lord Vader is going to have us go back to Naboo any time soon?" he asked, secretly hoping for a small vacation.

Veers shrugged. "I don't know. All the plans concerning the DS-II has already been

solidified for the army. The Emperor and his staff saw fit to make me the commander of the ground forces. Isn't the _Executor _supposed to be the picket ship guarding the station?"

Piett grimaced. "Yes. It is. I know we are supposed to report to Endor in a month to begin duty, but I wish Lord Vader would grant us shore leave at least for a while before that deadline. Maybe I should go ask young Kayl if he has received any news from Thrawn."

Veers shook his head. "I find it amusing that Lord Vader still has the captain act as his aide," he commented. "Actually, it is rather amazing if you think about it. Those two get into too many disagreements for most of the crew to expect Kayl to live past tomorrow."

Piett shrugged. "I am not sure about that. Whenever the two disagree, it is generally over some minor part in the larger scheme of things. And, strangely enough, the captain tends to be right about whatever said disagreement was over."

"And so Lord Vader commends him instead of executing him," Veers concluded. "Then again, because of that, a good portion of the ground troops stationed on the _Executor_ think that the good captain is actually a Jedi or maybe even a Sith."

Piett cracked a smile. "A Sith? Kayl?" he said dubiously before laughing. "Right. The one person who managed to not mime strangling that darn mechanic every time the girl's back was turned and still was incredibly polite to her is a Dark Lord. And to follow that brilliant line of reasoning, Dr. Jones is a Scottish lord while the Emperor is Mickey Mouse."

"Well, we might never know about that particular medic, but I don't believe that rumor about the captain," Veers replied, amused by a sudden picture of the Emperor with mouse ears. "Firmus, you have to remember that these are the same people that came up with the rumor that Lord Vader is actually some alternate dimension's version of Anakin Skywalker."

Piett shuddered. "Now _that_ is a disturbing thought. I'd truly pity the galaxy which had their greatest hero turn against what he stood for," he said softly.

Veers glared at Piett to warn him from saying anything else which could be construed as treason as Foray walked into the room. Confused at the silence and feeling completely out of place, Foray turned to walk out, but remembered he had to deliver a message from Lord Vader. "Erm, sirs?" he said, suddenly feeling like an aide again.

"Yes, Captain?" Piett asked, hoping like Veers was that Foray had not heard what he had said about Vader. "What is it?"

Foray cleared his throat nervously and reported, "Lord Vader wanted me to inform you of our current schedule. The _Executor_ is to go to Naboo shortly where we shall rendez-vous with the _Chimera_ before taking a short break and then heading off to Endor."

Piett was about to reply when the comm rang. All three officers looked at the break room's comm station for a moment before the two older officers volunteered the younger to answer it. Foray answered the comm after the third ring. "Yes?" he said hesitantly.

Foray gulped as Vader appeared on the screen. "Captain Foray, I assume General Veers and Admiral Piett are with you?" Foray replied to the affirmative, and Vader continued, "Good. Admiral, you and the captain are to return to the bridge. Our plans have changed, and the _Executor _ is going to be making a stop on Coruscant. General? You and your men are to be given shore leave when we reach the planet." Vader hung up.

"That was . . . interesting," Veers commented. "Not every day we get time off."

Piett sighed and replied, "Yes, but it's even more rare a day which lets the naval complement of this ship actually have time off." He turned to Foray. "We should go."

Foray glanced at the comm screen and nodded. "We should," he said before the two naval officers made their way to the bridge. When they arrived, Lord Vader gave a number of assignments to Piett before addressing the captain. "Captain Foray, I would like to speak to you about a very important mission on which you are to be assigned."

Vader turned and walked off the bridge. Foray, rather nervous, followed him. The two walked through the hallways of the Super Star Destroyer for a few minutes before Vader spoke. "Foray, I have a special mission for you. I am sure you know who Xizor is?"

Foray halted immediately and stared in shock at the Dark Lord. "I---I'm sorry, sir?" Vader stopped and turned to face the officer. Kayl could just imagine the Dark Lord with one of his eyebrows raised. "I know of Prince Xizor," Kayl admitted, keeping the fact that the Falleen crime lord did not particularly like him much. _Or at all . . ._

"Good," Vader said. "I don't particularly like to deal with---" ---_that creepy, lecherous lizardman---_ Vader thought, but said, "---the Prince, so you have the honor to discuss the dealings between the Imperial military and XTS, specifically the transferring of the plans of the second Death Star into the hands of the Rebel Alliance."

Kayl was a little apprehensive about the order. "My lord, I would be honored, but I have the feeling that you would wish that the least number of people know of these dealings between the Black Sun and the Galactic Empire?" he asked, crossing his fingers and hoping that he would not be eliminated after the mission was complete.

"Captain Foray, you have little need to worry about an execution," Vader said flat out, sensing the captain's apprehension. "If the Empire succeeds, then you will be credited with some of the honor of finally stamping out the remains of the Republic. If it fails, then in all likelihood, you, and the _Executor_, would not be alive to regret the loss of the battlestation anyway. If on the off chance that the DS-II is destroyed, Xizor would be blamed for the mistake." He stared directly at Foray. "Besides, I generally don't kill the messenger, and you're a competent officer, something which is very hard to come by in the Imperial ranks."

"Thank you, sir," Kayl said. "It truly is an honor. I just---"

"It is understandable," Vader cut him off. "I make it clear that I dislike bad news, and certain _measures_ are enforced to protect the secrecy of missions, but as I said, it would be a complete waste to have a competent officer silenced. I am sending you to deal with Xizor because, believe it or not, I trust you to a degree." Vader took a datapad out from underneath his cape and handed it to Foray. "This is the other half of your mission. Give the datapad to Xizor and Xizor alone. Do not read it yourself, nor let anyone else read it."

Kayl could guess what was on the datapad, but did not betray his knowledge to the Dark Lord. "Yes, Lord Vader. I shall guard it with my life." He paused. "Shall I set up another meeting with Xizor after this meeting is concluded?" _Please let me never do this again!_

"Hopefully, Captain," Vader started musingly, "Neither of us shall ever have to talk to that criminal again." _Killing Xizor, on the other hand, is something I very much look forward to . . ._ Vader added silently. The two Imperials then made their way back to the bridge.

* * *

Leia was nervous as she sat in the waiting room outside of Xizor's office. Something just plain _felt_ wrong. Her intuition told her that, and the Force was practically screaming that at her. If she did not know better, she could swear that there was a Dark Lord of the Sith talking to Xizor in the other room. Luckily, Guri, the human replica droid, did not throw off the same warning signals that everything else in the building screamed. Leia felt that the droid did not pose the same kind of threat that Xizor and the Black Sun did, even though she was an assassin (Leia had figured that out when they had met) and in the employ of Xizor. 

Maybe she should have listened to Luke and stayed on Tatooine. A moment after thinking that, Leia became angry at him once more. What right did he have to tell her what to do? In any case, if Leia had not gone to Coruscant, Luke probably would have done exactly what Leia did do. _Then again, I would have been the one to say "I told you so!" for going off and executing a completely harebrained scheme_, Leia thought. She looked around the room once more, hoping to find any sign that she did do the right thing. The only sort of sign Leia received was Guri staring blankly at her, yet somehow radiating pity.

Leia decided to reconsider her situation. There were a number of things that could possibly go wrong in the meeting. The first scenario was that Xizor would turn her over to the Imperial authorities, and that she, as a rebel ringleader, would be publicly executed. The second scenario was along the same lines as the first, but instead of the Imperials executing her, she would be used as a bargaining chip to force a treaty between the Alliance and the Empire. Another scenario would be Xizor holding her hostage to lure her father to Coruscant so the annoying lizardman could have his vengeance. Of course, if Leia was detained, then her friends would try to rescue her and possibly become caught in the same trap she was in. A final scenario would be that Xizor would cooperate, and Leia would leave Coruscant unharmed, hopefully with the information she traveled to Coruscant to procure.

As Leia continued to contemplate her situation, the Twi'lek who had had an appointment with Xizor before Leia walked out of Xizor's office. Guri smiled coldly at Leia and said, "You may enter now." Leia smiled wanly back and made for the door, glancing back once to see a vaguely familiar-looking Imperial officer walk into the waiting room. Leia stepped through the threshold into Xizor's office and shut the door behind her.

Xizor was sitting behind a rather cluttered desk and looking rather bored. The Dark Prince of the Black Sun then noticed Leia and put on a completely different expression. "Why, Princess Organa, for what reason do I have the honor of meeting you?" he asked before gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. "Please sit down if you wish."

Matching the Falleen's smile, Leia sat down and began to speak. "I am sure that Guri has told you at least part of the reason I have come?" Leia said, knowing that she had earlier told the HRD that she was looking for some information.

Xizor nodded and replied, "Of course. I, however, was not aware that the Rebellion wanted to barter for information with the Black Sun. I was under the impression that the Alliance does not like to overtly work with the criminal underworld."

Leia shook her head. "I am sorry if I gave that impression, but this is a purely personal matter. The High Command does not know about this meeting at all," Leia clarified. _Unless Luke told them about my plans. Or even worse, told my father!_

"Hm. This certainly is interesting," Xizor said. "So, do you wish to have information on the whereabouts of Captain Solo or on who has posted the bounties on your friend, Commander Skywalker?" Xizor asked. He had known exactly why she was there because he did have one of the biggest spy networks in the galaxy.

Leia was a little unsettled that Xizor knew that she was looking for Han, but she was more unsettled by Xizor's comment about Luke. She knew about the reward for Luke's capture, but that was for him alive only. There was a second bounty? Leia hid her confusion as quickly as it appeared and replied calmly, "I desire information on both topics, actually."

"As I thought," Xizor commented. He picked up a packet of files on his desk. "This is the sum total of the research which I had ordered to be available for this meeting," he explained. "Unfortunately, knowledge is power, and power is not free. There is a price tag attached to the information." Xizor named the sum, and Leia's jaw dropped.

She collected herself quickly and attempted to regain her cool. "I am sure I can procure that amount within a few days, given the fact that I will be cleared by the Imperial Bank to withdraw from my personal bank account." _And that Bail and my parents don't have a collective aneurism once they hear from the Royal Alderaanian Bank about the transaction._ "However, I do not think that I would be able to evade the police for that long."

Xizor waved her off. "No matter. I have more than enough space for you to stay here at the castle," he said, noticing that she was averse to the thought of staying at the castle. She probably had been planning to stay between systems in her spaceship (an older Alderaanian personal long-distance transport, according to Xizor's spies) while the bank transferred the money.

Leia wanted to decline the offer, but that action would be rude. She considered her alternatives. If she said no, Xizor could do one of the things she had thought of before entering the room, but she would not get the information. If she said yes, any one of those things could still happen, but she would acquire the information about Han. "That is acceptable," Leia replied, hoping she was not making the biggest mistake of her life.

Xizor smiled, and Leia suddenly had a very bad feeling. "Perfect. When the money has been transferred, I will hand the information over to you." He paused and glanced down at his appointment book. Apparently noticing some business he had to attend to, he said, "Now, Princess, I have some important business to attend to, so will you excuse me?"

Leia nodded and wished him a good day before exiting the office. The Imperial officer who had been present before she had gone to talk to Xizor had vanished, but Guri was still there. Leia addressed the HRD. "Prince Xizor said that I would be provided with accommodations while I wait for a bank transaction?" she said hesitantly, wondering what had happened to the Imperial officer, but thankful that he was not present.

Guri nodded and replied, "I know. Prince Xizor was expecting this situation to occur." She stood and walked towards the door opposite the office. "Follow me, please," she said, and Leia did so. They took a long and twisting path through the building, eventually stopping at the door to a suite a few floors below Xizor's office. Guri opened the door and motioned for Leia to go in. Leia did so, and Guri spoke. "You have free reign over what you do here. The holovid projector will provide you access to everything from INC to the Animated Holovid Network and everything in between. Dinner will be served at 6:30." Leia nodded, still somewhat worried about the presence of the Imperial officer, and Guri then said, "And, if you were wondering about that Imperial, he will most likely be gone by the time you meet with Prince Xizor, although he came for the appointment a few days early."

Leia smiled graciously, and said, "Thank you," before the HRD left Leia alone in the room. She looked around before finally staring at the shag carpet. It was a cream color, like the rest of the room, and the carpet probably would have been enough to entertain her father for a few hours. Leia wandered over to the closet and found it to be filled with designer clothing of all sorts of colors. Her mother would have been in heaven over that. Leia sighed and wondered how she was the only normal one in her family. She sat down on the very comfortable bed and suddenly had a vision of what the Jedi Council and Rogue Squadron would do if they were locked in the suite. She decided that she was the only sane one in the entire Rebellion, save Bail and Mon and maybe Bel Ibis, but he was a Corellian. Like Corran. And Wedge. And Dash. And Adi. Leia had a sneaking suspicion that Obi-Wan was Corellian, too, but he just would not admit it. Maybe there was some group called Corellians Anonymous, like Alcoholics Anonymous, but with crazy people, too. _Han could be their leader_, Leia thought, nodding sagely to herself before realizing what she had thought and falling back into a depression. _At least I'm doing this to save him_, she thought but felt guilty that she was to enjoy this luxury while she was waiting for the information. Hopefully, this whole experience would just be a memory in a few days time.

* * *

Dash was watching Chewbacca fiddling around with some miscellaneous component to the hyperdrive on the _Millennium Falcon_. According to Lando, this was the second or third time that month that the hyperdrive had been on the fritz. The ship was currently en route to Coruscant with Dash, Lando, Luke, and Chewie aboard it. Luke had called Lando and Chewie to inform them to return to Tatooine and the reason why they had to return once he and Dash had made it back to the hotel where Luke had been staying. The Wookie and the gambler had been very pleased to hear that Han had been found, but were less than enthused that Leia had walked into the figurative lion's den. 

Currently, the ship was a light-year out from Coruscant, and once Chewie made sure that the hyperdrive would not malfunction at an inopportune time again, they were going to make the final jump to the Imperial capital world. Dash knew of a good place to park the _Falcon_ where it would not be searched by the Imperials, and Lando had already formulated a plan to break Han and Leia out of Xizor's castle. Much to Chewie's displeasure, they were going to go through the sewers. Luke had been delegated the role of finding a way out of the castle. His plan was to basically run like a mynock out of hell. The others remained unaware of Luke's lack of a plan, but it did not really matter anyway. Any plan would probably be completely useless by the time that they rescued Leia anyway.

Chewie growled to Dash that the hyperdrive and all the systems connected to it were in good repair, and Dash replayed the message to Lando, who had the _Falcon_ make the jump into hyperspace. A few minutes later, the ship exited hyperspace in the near viscinity of Coruscant. Everyone had gathered in the cockpit at that point, and when the space traffic controller contacted the _Falcon_, Dash made up a story to allow them to land. The Imperial had absolutely no clue what ship he had just let through. According to the transponder and Dash's explanation, the beat-up freighter was the _Kryptonian Bullet_ coming from the planet Vulcan with parts and a technical crew for the Emperor's latest pet project. As it has been noted before, Imperials were not the sharpest tools in the shed.

The _Falcon _ landed without consequence. When they landed, Dash rushed off somewhere and returned a few hours later with a copy of the blueprints for the sewers near Xizor's castle. Luke asked where Dash had found the plans, and Dash had replied that he had persuaded "someone he knew" to cough up the plans. Consequently, Dash would have to find a "real" job after the escapade concluded by order of his older brother.

The next day, the Wookie, the gambler, the mercenary, and the Jedi set off for Xizor's castle by way of the sewers. None of them had been expecting anything out of the ordinary in the sewers, save the disgusting smell, but that did not stop them from running into no less than three giant vicious, man-eating sewer rats, two diagonae (with which Luke had an unfortunate encounter), and an abandoned krokodial. The krokodial, while appearing to be very dangerous, seemed to be rather friendly and made a habit of following Lando through the sewers. Dash had been rather disturbed by the appearance of the large lizard, having previously thought that the krokodials living in the sewers of Coruscant were merely myths. Luke had a similar reaction, but decided to just ignore the huge lizard once he saw that it had a collar which identified it as Godzilla and as owned by someone named T. Djo.

Once they arrived at the underground entrance to the sublevels of Xizor's castle, Lando tried to shoo Godzilla away to no avail. Dash put in the codes to enter the building, and Luke said, "Uh, guys, I neglected to say this earlier, but I think that might be a pet of a friend of mine. So, I was thinking maybe we should take it with us?"

While Chewie laughed, Lando stared at Luke and said with all seriousness, "Please say Janson isn't the owner of this thing." He gestured to Godzilla.

Dash glanced back at the krokodial. "It's that weird Dathomirian girl's, isn't it?"

Luke nodded sheepishly and replied, "Yeah." As a result, Chewie barked something in reply about how Godzilla was not going to come within a mile of the _Falcon_. "Point taken," Luke said. "But how are we going to get rid of it? And think about the shock effect that the krokodial would cause with the guards in Xizor's castle!" The other three stared at Luke like he was crazed, and Dash turned back to the door to continue entering the codes. Lando continued to try to shoo the lizard away from him. "Fine. Then you get to explain to Teneniel why we left her lizard in the sewers of Coruscant."

The other three thought about that for a moment, and Lando said, "That's a fair trade off. Now, could you please get this giant lizard away?" Luke rolled his eyes before telling the lizard to scram through the Force. It complied and started to battle a giant moth further down in the tunnel. Luke was a little unsettled by that and decided that they had made the right decision to leave the lizard in the sewers. Teneniel could find it later at her own leisure.

Dash finally opened the door, and Luke used the Force to knock out all of the guards in the room directly off of the sewers. Lando hacked into the mainframe and disabled the cameras on the floor they were on, as well as the first fifty floors directly above them. He also stumbled upon what room Leia was being held in. With those tasks completed, the group made its way up through the building to save the Princess and Han.

* * *

The good captain of the _Executor_ was also in Xizor's castle, although he was waiting to see the Falleen crime lord. He had seen the Princess Leia in the same room three days before and had barely believed his eyes. For what reason was she there? Did she have some harebrained scheme to find out why her friend Luke was being hunted by every bounty hunter in the galaxy? Kayl had half a mind to help her escape. Unfortunately, that would cause a diplomatic relations disaster between Xizor (and therefore the Black Sun) and the Empire, and it constituted as treason. Guri, Xizor's HRD, had been staring at him emotionlessly for the past twenty minutes, and Kayl was starting to become very nervous. 

A light flashed on the HRD's desk, and Guri told him, "You may enter now." Kayl nodded to her and entered Xizor's office. The office looked exactly like what he had glimpsed a few days prior, but with one major difference. "Do you like my most recent art acquisition?" Xizor asked, gesturing to the block of carbonite containing Han Solo. Kayl felt sick and blanched. Xizor, a little puzzled by the reaction, asked, "Are you feeling well? Would you like to sit down?" He was being polite only because this fool of an Imperial probably did not know about his connections with---his leadership of---the Black Sun and probably thought that he was just negotiating a agreement between the Empire and XTS.

"I'm sorry," Kayl apologized. "It is just that I've never seen any artwork that lifelike before," he said, thinking, _How on Earth does Xizor have Han!_ "Um, from my briefing from Lord Vader, I believe we are supposed to finalize the plans to transport a particular computer containing very sensitive material essential to the Imperial cause to Kothlis."

Xizor nodded knowingly, wondering at the same time how much that sithspawned Lord Vader had told this aide. Of course, Xizor did know the man was a captain, but there was something about him that made the Dark Prince hate him as much as he hated Vader. "I have selected a light transport in advance," Xizor replied, "and the payment which had already been suggested by Lord Vader is acceptable. The pickup date for the delivery has also been confirmed, as has everything else, as per the Imperial terms suggested."

Kayl smiled gratefully. The meeting had not had to be long, and he was thankful for that. Kayl handed over some documents for Xizor to sign (Vader had done so in advance) and remembered that he had a datapad to give to Xizor. It was the datapad Vader had expressly forbidden him from reading. Once Xizor had finished signing the documents and handed them back to Kayl, Kayl took the datapad out of his pocket. "Prince, Lord Vader requested that I deliver this datapad to you. As far as I know, this message pertains to some personal matter or top secret information; I have no knowledge of its contents."

Kayl handed Xizor the datapad, and excused himself. As Kayl exited the room, Xizor started to read the document, and Kayl could almost feel the anger the Dark Prince was radiating. Kayl decided there was definitely no love (or even ambivalence) between the two henchmen of the Emperor. He passed through the waiting room with Guri staring at him the entire time. Kayl decided to show himself out. He knew the way to the fiftieth floor landing platform. After walking down the halls for some time, Kayl noticed Guri tailing him. Apparently Xizor did not trust Kayl as far as he could throw him. Not that Kayl did not feel the same. Shaking his head, Kayl realized he was more like his father than he cared to admit.

For one reason or another, Kayl stopped in front of a random door. Guri would not catch up with him for a few more minutes (he had managed to cause her to follow him at a greater distance after he walked around the sixtieth floor five times), so he knocked on the door. More quickly than he expected, he was answered. He stood in the doorway for a moment, stunned that he had happened upon Princess Leia's room. She arched an eyebrow as he stared at her in amazement. The Princess did not seem to be surprised at the fact that an Imperial officer was standing at her door. "Wait a second," she said, recognizing him, "Weren't you that aide back at Bespin?"

Kayl nodded before deciding to hell with it all. He had to help her escape. "Princess, you friend, Han Solo, is here," he told her. After receiving a stunned stare from the girl, Kayl explained, "He's in Xizor's custody, albeit still frozen in carbonite." Pausing, he then asked her, "How well can you work with the Force? Can you sense people?" After being stared at like he was an idiot, he said, "Can you sense Commander Skywalker around here?"

Leia blinked a few times before checking and replying, "Yes, he is." She paused. "Why the hell is he here!" she exclaimed. "How would he know I was in trouble?"

"You _are_ in Xizor's castle," Kayl reminded her, then hypothesized, "Your friend probably found out about what Xizor's done." He paused. "Han's in Xizor's office. If you can tell where the Commander is, go find him and make for the office. I'll distract Guri."

Leia nodded in thanks and smiled. "I owe you. You'll probably be killed for this."

Kayl shrugged. "I'm just doing my duty, and I doubt Vader would punish me too much for this 'betrayal.' He hates Xizor even more than, well, Anakin Skywalker does." He started to walk off, but Leia stopped him by saying, "Wait! What's your name? And why did you tell me all of this? You're an Imperial officer! Under Vader's command, no less!"

Kayl turned around and smiled sadly. He told her, "My name's Kayl Foray, and I'm here to rescue you." He glanced back at the empty corridor and behind him and departed before the Princess could say anything more. Kayl heard her close the door to her room. _Good, she's going to wait for Guri to follow me before escaping. I hope her friends came up with an escape plan_, he thought. _But knowing them, it's probably "Run like hell."_

Kayl continued to walk around in circles for another good twenty minutes before Guri, tired of following the most-likely eccentric Imperial around the building, approached him and guided him to the landing platform. Once they were there, Guri finally spoke to him. "I half-expected you to break the Princess of Alderaan out of her room."

Kayl started up the speeder Lord Vader had lent him and turned to the HRD. He smiled and asked her, "Who says I didn't, Guri?"

"I meant an active participation in her escape, not telling her what her comrades would report to her later." She raised her chin. "You've shown incredible control in restraining yourself from helping the Rebels storm the castle. I was also rather amused when Prince Xizor blew a gasket after reading that datapad you gave him from Lord Vader."

Kayl shrugged and informed her, "That was not _my_ fault." After a moment, he said, "Hey, if you don't want to be around when Xizor runs into said Rebels, do you want to come with me back to the Imperial base or where ever? You could then find someone to erase your assassin programming. I could even recommend a very good Rebel mechanic."

"Know him by reputation, or because you know the mechanic?" Guri questioned.

"By reputation. I'm an Imperial officer, remember?" Kayl replied, amused. "Are you coming or not?" he asked kindly. "If necessary, I'll pay for your passage off-planet."

Guri shook her head and sighed before getting into the speeder. "You really are too kind to be an Imperial officer. I'm amazed Vader hasn't killed you yet."

Kayl laughed as he drove them away. "He only kills people who do not do their jobs well enough to fit his standards: an Admiral must have a fully functioning brain, a captain must be competent, and everyone else needs half a brain. Lord Vader ignores the all Grand Admirals and only comes into contact with one of them, who happens to be the one that Lord Vader likes to work with. I've never met the man, personally."

Guri stared ahead. "Could you find me a job in the navy, then, Captain?" she asked.

"I'm sure Lord Vader would give you one if you told him you defected from Xizor's service for one reason or another," Kayl told her sincerely. "As you know, they hate each other and would gladly see the other rot in hell, specifically the frozen ninth circle."

"With the rest of the traitors?" Guri inquired and glanced at Kayl, who said nothing.

* * *

Luke was surprised to find that Leia was not in need of rescuing shortly after the rescue group reached the door to the thirty-ninth floor. None of them were particularly more winded than the others, but they were all happy to see the Princess. Dash was about to start filling her in when Leia reported, "I know where Han is. He's in Xizor's office. I know the way there." All the guys stared at her before continuing their journey up the stairs. 

"How do you already know this stuff, Leia?" Luke asked after a while. If Leia had planned this from the beginning, then he really owed her an apology. Leia did not answer him for another flight of stairs, at which point they all rested for a while. It was floor sixty.

"I know this stuff," Leia replied while catching her breath, "because an Imperial officer I've run into before told me. I think he has taken care of Guri in one way or another." After receiving puzzled stares, Leia informed them, "Guri is Xizor's human replica droid. She's programmed to be an assassin. Kayl, the Imp, is probably leading her around in circles on some floor, pretending to be searching for the landing platform."

"That was certainly kind of him," Dash said sarcastically. "There has to be some sort of catch. An Imperial officer would not just free you and give you information because he feels bad. I've run into enough of them in the past two years."

"No, I know he had a reason other than taking pity on me," Leia retorted. She turned to Luke and Lando. "Do either of you remember that aide? You know, the one with the black hair and dark blue eyes? From back on Bespin, right after Han was frozen?"

Lando remembered the man she was speaking of. "Him. Vader's aide. There was something strange about him," Lando recalled. "I actually thought he was a Rebel spy in deep cover. He did not act like most of the Imperials any of us have met, like Dash said."

Luke had been strangely quiet. He was remembering how that officer had warned him away from fighting Vader. It was almost as if he had known the outcome of the battle. There had also been that strange muffled feeling which had disturbed his contact with the Force. Luke had been meaning to research what could cause those effects, but he had not had the time. "I remember that guy, too," he said. "He warned me about Vader." Leia stared at Luke for a moment once he had said that. Luke noticed and said, "We should get going. Xizor might know about the break-in by now." The climbing resumed.

They continued climbing the stairs for another ten flights, at which point it was unanimously declared that they could use the turbolifts the rest of the way up. Finally, they reached the floor on which Xizor's office was located. The plan they had formulated by that time was for Luke and Leia to distract Xizor while Dash, Lando, and Chewie freed Han. The plan was as brilliant and well-thought out as Luke's escape plan, which Leia had guessed back on floor forty-five. Unfortunately, none of them had any better ideas.

When they were near Xizor's office, all of the males stayed around the corner of the hallway, out of sight, and Leia waltzed around the corner and into Xizor's office. She barged in unannounced since Guri was still missing. Xizor was sitting behind his desk, somehow completely expecting her arrival. Han's frozen form was hanging on the wall to her right. Leia glared at Xizor, who only laughed. "Did you really think that I would notice your little escapade of escaping from your room? I sent Guri after you a few minutes ago. She just finished sending that bumbling Imperial off. He really was irritating, almost as much as that damn Jedi General or even Vader himself. No matter." Leia glared at him with fire in her eyes. "When she comes back, I'll have her take you back to your room."

"How dare you lie to me!" Leia growled, understandably angry. She noticed that he had not been informed of Luke, Lando, Dash, or Chewie. "You knew where Han was this entire time! What am I to you? Bait to lure my friends here? A bargaining chip?"

Xizor smiled wickedly. "Oh, I would most likely have used you for both of those purposes. If you wondered, I was going to tell you the truth about where Solo was, but I figure that you would eventually figure out who were behind the rewards for Skywalker."

Leia's eyes narrowed. "I already knew one of them, and you are the other. The reward you promise is for Luke handed over to you, dead or alive. The other . . . well, I am sure Darth Vader will be less than enthused to find out that you have put a death warrant out for his son!" Xizor seemed to be surprised that she knew about Luke's father, so she went on. "I'll even go tell him myself. All I have to do is find a comlink around here and announce myself. Vader is on planet, so my arrest would be supervised by him, no doubt."

Xizor glared at her venomously. "You are aware that you would have to reach a comlink without being caught by Guri, myself, or any of my guards. That is almost impossible. Besides, you are assuming that I need you alive. I could always turn you over to the Imperial authorities dead, and the Rebellion would be sorely effected."

Leia laughed bitterly. "You would risk making me a martyr? Think of the headlines! 'Teenage Rebel leader found dead at the residence of the leader of the Black Sun.' That's very encouraging. It would do wonders for the war effort. My father would also swear to hunt you down and kill you in the most painful way imaginable. A very smart move."

Xizor snorted. "Your father? Bail Organa? What would he do as revenge? Have Alderaan boycott XTS? There is no way that he could do anything more than that." Xizor unlocked a small compartment on the bottom of his desk.

Shaking her head, Leia laughed hysterically. "Oh, Prince Xizor, how wrong you are. Bail is my godfather. I'm sure he---and nearly everyone else, for that matter---would not take revenge, though. My father would not leave anything left to take revenge on. Who knows, the galaxy might even gain another Sith Lord in the process."

That last comment disturbed Xizor as he had taken the small blaster out of its secret compartment. "Your father, whoever he is, will just have to wait and take revenge, then," Xizor said, drawing his blaster and firing it directly at the Princess.

Unfortunately for Xizor and fortunately for Leia, a green lightsaber blade blocked the bolt from hitting its mark. Luke had entered the room just as Xizor had aimed the blaster. He turned to Leia, grabbed her arm, and dragged her out of the room before Xizor could get another shot in. Luke and Leia ran out the door with Xizor following them, shooting at them while Luke blocked the blaster bolts. They rounded the corner opposite where the others were waiting and made a mad dash to the turbolift. Xizor, taking the bait, followed them.

At the moment Xizor rounded the other corner, Lando, Dash, and Chewie ran into Xizor's office. Once in the room, Chewie took the slab of carbonite off of the wall. Lando knelt beside the carbonite and pressed the correct switches to melt the carbonite. Immediately, the substance started to sublime, freeing Han within the span of thirty seconds. Han, who was being helped up, although still completely disoriented, demanded, "Where am I? Who are you? And what the hell is going on?"

Dash rolled his eyes and yelled at Han (just in case his hearing was not working properly either), "We, your three amigos, are freeing you whilst the crazy Jedi kids are running like hell from that psychopathic Falleen crimelord!"

Han stared in the vague direction of the big red blur known as Dash, and Chewie commented upon how they were sort of in a hurry, so they needed to get a move on. Lando, who Han still had not managed to recognize, said, "Right. Han, do you think you can run, or are we going to have to commandeer one of Xizor's ships and have Luke and Leia escape through the sewers?" He realized that Han didn't know that they would have to escape through the sewers if they did not take a speeder, but Han managed to figure it out.

"Commandeering sounds good to me," Han decided. "If I tried to run, I'd hit a wall."

"Good," Dash commented. "That means you only have to climb one flight of stairs." Han grimaced, and they ended up taking the turbolift to the roof. At the top, Dash edited his story from their landing on Coruscant and persuaded the guards that they were just borrowing a speeder to go tell the Emperor about some recent development with some sort of pet project that Xizor was helping the Emperor with. The four of them then drove off.

Back in the depths of Xizor's castle, Luke and Leia were still running from Xizor, but they were starting to tire. After all, they had just scaled a good portion of the building _before_ pissing off the Dark Prince. Of course, they preferred irritating a Dark Prince as opposed to a Dark Lord, but Leia was pretty close to making good on her threat and calling the Imperials. At that moment, Luke's comlink started going off. Leia took it from him and answered it since Luke was still blocking blaster fire. "What?" she yelled. "We're a little busy here!"

"Geez, calm down, your Highness-ness," Han's laid-back voice came from the comlink. "It's not like you're in any more dangerous a situation than normal."

"Yeah, everything's the same as always!" Luke exclaimed, adding his two cents.

"That bad, huh?" Han replied. "Hmm . . . Hey, you guys, do you think we should save them or make them walk through the sewers?" Han asked the others. Muffled voices responded something that sounded like "sewers." There was also something about a krokodial. "Then it's unanimous. Meet us at the level fifty landing platform."

Han hung up, and Leia started twitching. Both she and Luke started sprinting to reach the turbolift so they could go back up to the fiftieth floor. Xizor had been chasing them around the thirtieth. They made it in time for Xizor to have no clue where they went. After a minute or two, they were on the correct floor. After exiting the turbolift, Luke used the Force to push the button that would send it to the roof. Seconds later, the two were gone, down another hallway. It took less than five minutes to locate the platform, and their friends were already there and waiting. Han, who was still in somewhat of a daze, said, "What kept you?"

"No time," Luke said, diving into the speeder and landing on Han. "Talk later, drive now." Leia did something similar and ended up on Luke. She said something in agreement, and Dash, rolling his eyes, hit the gas pedal. The speeder raced off into traffic.

* * *

Xizor scoured his castle for the two brats and, failing finding them, decided to go up to his skyhook to monitor the outbound space traffic in order to blast them into space dust. He vaguely remembered that the last time he had done so, Vader had blasted _him_ into space dust. That was not an event that Xizor wished to repeat, and he would not have, had he remembered completely. The Force (and Darth Vader) had other things in store for him. 

By the time that Xizor had located the _Millennium Falcon _(now traveling under the pseudonym _Curse of Circe_), Captain Kayl Foray and newly recruited Lieutenant Guri Kisaragi had returned to the _Executor_. Captain Foray informed Vader of the situation and was helped by the lieutenant on certain points. It took Vader five minutes to decide whether to blast Xizor into space dust or Force-grip him over the Holonet. He decided to go the Holonet route since the captain pointed out that innocent bystanders could be working for Xizor on the skyhook. The captain had that particularly irritating quality that resurrected Vader's long dormant (and presumed dead) conscience.

Shortly before the _Falcon_ was about to be destroyed, Vader opened a link with Xizor. They had a pleasant conversation in which Vader (not so) politely demanded that Xizor cease and desist trying to destroy the vessel. Xizor said he was disinclined to acquiesce to Vader's proposal (and said some rather disparaging things about Vader's mother and the legitimacy of the good captain). Vader paused for a moment before mentally telling Xizor to go to hell and executing him. Pleased with the events of the day, Vader walked off of the bridge. The good captain and Admiral Piett exchanged glances before Foray called Xizor's navy and told them that Lord Vader had "removed their employer" and if they wished to live, then they should stop firing on the _Falcon_. Needless to say, Xizor's fleet complied, and the _Millennium Falcon_ disappeared into hyperspace.

_

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Ok, people. Big question here. Do you want me to respond to your reviews via here, or via the review reply buttony-thinger? I'm just wondering, but here's last time's review replies:_

_**SuperBlonde**: Hm... Interesting... I think we both might be crazy. And as to jello pudding pops at Hoth---HOW COULD I FORGET SOMETHING LIKE THAT? I'm such a doofus! It was the perfect chance! I loved writing Qui-Gon in as the Force-ghost. I mean, who else could pull off talking to a random Jedi apprentice who's about to go into hypothermic shock? Certainly not Obi-Wan, with his being alive and all. Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with a good enough way to have Wedge's blaster eaten by the wampa, so I just referred to it. Sorry! And as to the scene in the medbay, Anakin would have had a spaz attack had he been present. You KNOW he would have (and maybe giving a stern talking to Han for good measure). Jedi Council reality TV? I pity the children who would watch that. Think about all the emotional scarring... and Anakin's broadening of their vocabulary. But I do agree that it would get incredible ratings. As to Luke having two fathers, it's sorta true, but not, but is, but isn't. You also mentioned what Vader's planning. After this chapter, I hope things made a little more sense. Sorta. There are still some very important plot points to get through... And just a hint, but Kayl's going to play a important role in the Battle of Endor---for where his true allegiance lies. And there I go being vague again! Thanks for reviewing, and I really, really apologize for my crappy update speed!_

_**JadeAlmasy**: I thank you for saying you like the longer chapters more. Unfortunately, I doubt this is what you had in mind. I appreciate that you don't mind that I take long, and I am, again, super sorry that I did take this long. Thanks very much for reviewing!_

_**Tanydwr**: Thank you very much for reviewing AtSM. As to your question, yes, Luke, having been half-dead at the point at which Qui-Gon imparted that sage advice, has forgotten that little bit of information, but even if he did remember, that doesn't necessarily mean to him that the version of Vader in his reality isn't a dark Jedi, although we know otherwise. At least, I think that was what I was thinking when I wrote that. (Translation: I forgot about that. Maybe. I can't recall whether I forgot about that or my explanation as shown is what I was thinking. Either way, what is said there is law-ish.)_

_I hope you all have enjoyed this chapter. See ya next time! (and hopefully it will be before Spring Break...)_


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